The Bleeding Effect
by Daring Dashwood
Summary: TP/OoT Xover. When Link steps through the gateway into the past, into the Temple of Time, he doesn't find the initial queasiness odd. What is odd is when he abruptly blacks out, and wakes up to the face of a stranger. A stranger with blonde hair and eyes as red as the sun...
1. Chapter I

The Bleeding Effect

Chapter I

AN: The first rewritten chapter. More will come soon. The tense change is deliberate.

* * *

Link stretches out his hand incredulously, doubtful if something as rusted and decrepit as this doorknob will still turn. Expecting the knob to either crumble to flakes in hand or remain stuck, he is rather surprised when it instead gives easily, the ivory door opening without nary a creak or whine. With his right hand resting lightly on his blade—one can never be too careful, after all—Link pushes the door all the way open. Light pours into the grove, and as Midna hisses and recoils beside him, Link steps closer to the entrance, though not yet passing through the threshold. He eagerly makes a first cursory sweep of the room.

He cannot stifle his gasp of amazement. Link thought that he was well prepared for any sort of oddity after all the curious people he has met and unique places he's traveled, but for all the strangeness his quest has entailed thus far, not once has he ever tampered with time itself. He balks at the idea of such insane, powerful magic, but what he sees before him now can't possibly be anything else.

Before him is the Sacred Grove as it had once looked many, many years past. Thick foliage is replaced by sturdy marble, crumbled ruins with a regal temple. Link skimmed enough of the history textbooks Rusl forced upon him to recognize that what he is seeing is none other than the Temple of Time, restored to all of its iridescent glory, albeit in a monochrome finish. The sunlight that shines through the windows is white, not golden; and the sky beyond the window is a far cry from blue. It looks as if someone had taken a pictograph of the temple.

For not the first—and probably not the last—time on his journey, Link finds himself marveling at the powers at work in this world. Who devised this time-transportation device? The Goddesses were his first guess, but what if some other being is also capable of such a monumental feat? And do other doorways such as this exist elsewhere in Hyrule, tucked away in safe little corners like this one? And supposing there _are _other passages, do they all lead to the same time?

The hero jolts out of his awed stupor by a smarting flick to the ear. He flinches—she should know by now that Hylian ears are extremely sensitive, that rascal—and Midna orders: "Stop standing around and drooling over the thing! We need to obtain the mirror shard quickly—get moving!"

"Alright, alright."

Link warily raises his left arm to the quivering film that cleaves time before plunging it forwards, until his entire forearm is submerged. He shudders; he is met with no pain, no resistance to his action, but his arm feels as if it is plunged into a bucket of ice water. He hasn't felt a chill this severe since he climbed Snowpeak—and even then, he had been protected from the worst of it by his thick wolf pelt. Link grimaces, and figures he might as well just get the entire unpleasant ordeal over with. If he is fortunate, the chill might ebb once he is completely inside the past. Without further ado he fully steps past the doors and into the temple, Midna hastily slinking back into his shadow. Blinding light, biting cold, and crippling nausea all assault him, but he pushes on and keeps walking. Several steps inside the temple the sensations fade, the light dimming to its normal vibrancy.

He has done it; he has actually managed to travel back in time. A sudden dizzy spell strikes Link, and he wavers a bit before catching himself on the balustrade.

"How far back do you think we've gone?" Link murmurs, his soft voice carrying in the enormous building, reverberating.

Midna rises from his shadow to reply, and Link looks her over quickly, making sure that she has made it through the transition just as safely. Relieved to find no signs of a problem, he turns his attention to her reply, to find that he's already missed some of it.

"…don't care either. Stop finding ways to distract yourself and get moving. I don't understand why you feel the need to jabber on all the time."

Link releases his hold on the banister and continues down the steps, marveling at how firm and secure they are beneath his feet. "When I first opened the door, I thought this might be some elaborate illusion, perhaps created by that forest boy we kept running into. He turns to look at Midna, a fascinating idea forming in his mind. "What if there's another exit out of this temple? Where would it lead? Would we still be in this past, or would it take us to the present again, or maybe even the future?"

Midna sighs, and tugs his arm forwards. "Link, come _on_ already! This is why I prefer your mutt form; you can't blather on and on like this. What I would give for a day's respite…"

"Alright, alright," he concedes to the imp, a fond smile curling his lips. "I'll be quiet now, I promise. Let's continue."

When he reaches the end of the stairs, his vision suddenly blurs, the dizziness from earlier returning with a vengeance. Believing it to just be a lingering effect of the transition, Link rubs his eyes quickly and continues on. Except the room he stands in is not what it just was. Three strange gems glow above an altar, which is covered in a black-lettered prophecy. A blue fairy bobs about him on his right. But the strangest part of it all is the blonde-haired man that stands at his other flank, who stares back at him with eyes as red as the sun.

He steps towards Link, and his voice is muffled as he asks, _"Link, are you—_

—alright?" Midna finishes, her arms crossed over her small chest, her concern obvious through her scowl.

Link blinks once. And then twice, just to be absolutely sure. The man, fairy, altar, and stones have all vanished, leaving all as it was before. What in Nayru's name just happened?

The hero quickly and methodically runs his hands over his body, searching for any injury that might have brought about such a hallucination. He removes his pointed hat, combs his hair through his hands. No bumps or bruises. Uneasily, he shrugs it off as a resultant of fatigue.

"I'm sorry," Link apologizes, bewildered. "What did—

_—you say?" _There is no sudden blurring this time, no graying out before he is swept back into the illusion. What looks like a glimmer of concern flickers through the stranger's eyes, but it fades before Link can be certain.

_"I asked if you were ailing, hero. You suddenly stopped short, and your face drained of blood."_

Heaviness descends upon Link with sudden ferocity, and he buckles slightly under its force. His head pounds, as if his brain is trying to bash its way out of his skull. He stumbles again as a second wave of heaviness coupled with pain lances through him, but this time, his left leg, unusually weak, give out beneath him. The stranger hastens to him, clutching at his tunic and pulling him close before he can fall to the floor. He then carefully lowers Link to the cool stone, his small hands cradling the hero's aching head. The worry the stranger feels cannot now be denied: the vermillion eyes are all but screaming it. The fairy flutters about Link's face, distraught and useless. Its constant, flurried zigzagging makes Link dizzy until the man waves the creature to the side, peering more closely at him. But Link's vision feathers around the edges even as the man begins to speak.

_"Link, you must tell me, what is—"_

—wrong?" Now Midna is the one hovering over him, a sharp tooth poking out to worry her lower lip. She jostles his shoulder, tiny fingers digging into the fabric. "Talk to me, right now. Any other time I can never get you to be silent. What happened? Why did you collapse?"

Link props his upper body up, arms trembling with the effort. He then laboriously reaches up to the back of his head, the source of his pain. His hand comes away shaking and bloody.

Midna watches his movements, and when she speaks, he can easily hear her frustration. "I'm sorry, Link. I couldn't react fast enough to catch you with my magic."

"It wasn't your fault, Midna," He soothes. But it explains the sudden spasm of pain he felt in the hallucination. He had collapsed here whilst he had been there, only there was no one here in reality to stop his fall.

Link rises, Midna's eyes never straying from him. He offers a tremulous grin.

"I'm fine now. Let's go." She does not appear convinced in the slightest, but after a curt nod she does return to his shadow.

He reaches the Master Sword's pedestal before dropping to the floor with a cry, hands fisting in his hair. Link's vision smears, thick black spots dancing to a minuet before his eyes. He staggers away from the dais with a groan, one arm flailing backwards in search of support, the other holding his head that felt swollen with pressure. His ears start to pop. His arm hits cool stone and he pulls himself towards it, chest heaving, turning to butt his forehead against the chilled wall in an animalistic attempt to relieve the pressure, the pain.

"Link? Wha_t_'s g_oin_g on, L_ink? Link!"_

Midna is by his side, attempting to shake him into awareness, screaming. He can hardly even feel her. His eyelids start to droop.

_"Link, don't fall asleep! Listen to me, you musn't…"_

His eyelids shutter closed as darkness blankets his mind, Midna's cries fading into silence.

* * *

"Hero? Link, can you hear me? Wake up."

Link stirred, the voice rousing him into awareness. His eyelids flickered half open, and his eyes sluggishly dragged themselves back and forth between the man and the blue fairy.

"Link! What happened to you?" The fairy squeaked, flying closer to buzz in his face. He groaned at the brightness, struggled to turn his face away from the harsh glow.

The fairy must have realized her close proximity was causing him distress, because she darted away again back to above the man's shoulder.

"Should I try to heal him? I think he used all the potions he had left during the fight with Morpha."

"No, Navi. If anything, we should try to locate a Great Fairy if he remains unresponsive. I do not want to risk you burning yourself out completely if what's wrong with him turns out to be too much for you to handle."

With a cry Link shot up from the ground, gasping, as everything that had happened flooded to the forefront of his mind. The man and the fairy recoiled, startled at his sudden movement.

"Midna!" He shouted, looking around the temple wildly for his companion, with no results. Was he _still_ trapped in the hallucination?

(Does he dare to consider that this might not _be_ a hallucination?)

Before Link could calm himself two hands gently coaxed him to lie down on his back again.

"Easy, hero. You are clearly not well. Your injuries must be worse than we had thought. Do you remember what happened? Think hard, but stop at once if it hurts."

He did remember, yes, but it didn't explain why Midna was replaced by these two strangers. Until he could ascertain what caused this, who these people were, and where he was, he had best just play dumb.

Until then, Midna would have to fend for herself. Concern began to pool in his gut. She might transport Link's body to a location where his other friends could find him, but what would _she _do? Would she take refuge in his shadow until he snapped out of his trance? No, not Midna. She would probably try to go out on her own to collect the mirror shards, because Zant must be stopped. But how would she defend herself? Her magic might be able to get her past small skirmishes, but Zant could hunt her down, could finish what he started. And neither him nor Princess Zelda would be able to help her this time…

"Hey." Link was jostled by the shoulder until his gaze met the man's. "Don't go away. Focus on me. Now, do you remember what happened?"

There was nothing for it. Link had to plead ignorance, as much as lying galled him. He swallowed hard, grimacing at the coppery taste of his saliva.

"I cannot…my mind seems to be quite…disjointed. Who are you? Where are we?"

The man frowned. "Memory loss? Hopefully it is short lasting. My name is Sheik, and that is your guardian fairy, Navi," Sheik explained, jerking his thumb over his shoulder to gesture to her. He paused, then, as if waiting for Link to comment or make some sort of noise of realization as all his memories immediately surged back. Link didn't. "And we are in the Temple of Time."

Well, at least his location definitely had not changed. The names Sheik and Navi struck a chord. He knew them from somewhere, and he struggled vainly to find the information in his fogged mind.

The blue fairy fluttered down beside his face again. "So you really don't remember any of our adventures together?"

"No, sorry."

Navi's light seemed to flicker and dim at that. Link's heart ached at the sight, but it was not as if he could do something to fix it. After a few somber beats, however, her countenance brightened again.

"We will just have to work on getting your memory back. And even if you never remember, it doesn't matter. I will always stick by your side as your friend!"

Link was a bit touched. Though he had eventually grown to care for and cherish Midna, they did not get off on an immediate good start. Midna treated him as a subordinate, ordering him here and there with but the barest of explanations. As they spent more and more time together, Link learned to see past her callous outer shell, which softened noticeably after she confessed her past. But this fairy, like many of the others he had encountered, was kind from the very first meeting, and quite upbeat, the polar opposite of Midna. Fairies were truly lovely creatures.

Before Sheik or Navi could say anything, Link attempted to stand. He had hardly lifted his body two feet off the ground before a forgotten pain flared alive from his left leg, and he immediately crumbled back down to the cool stone. Winded, he laid motionless on the floor as his lungs clutched for air, the scabbard of his sword digging a bit painfully into his back.

"…You shouldn't move just yet." Sheik said, rather belatedly. Link snorted.

"Yeah," Navi piped up. "Your leg was injured pretty badly in the Water Temple, and there's a limit to what red potions can heal. You need some proper bed rest supplemented with better medicine."

"Why don't we go to a Great Fairy, or even one of her children?" Link asked.

"Most of them have either been killed, or driven into hiding since Ganondorf took over." Sheik explained.

"What?" The evil King of the Gerudo Tribe? But if Ganondorf was alive, then that must mean…Link was in the past?

"Enough." Said Sheik curtly, before hoisting Link up. He slung Link's arm over the back of his neck, snagging his wrist to secure the limb. He curled his other arm around Link's back, and grabbed a fistful of Link's tunic.

"We'll walk like this." Said Sheik, reaffirming his grip on the other. "Keep your bad leg off the ground. Nayru willing, we'll be able to escape the town without running into any of _them_. Once we manage to reach Hyrule Field we can call your horse."

"Them?"

"Don't ask questions now. Once we're in a safe location I shall explain all. Right now, just keep your mouth shut and your eyes open."

Link bristled at Sheik's tone—this was just like Midna was in the beginning, but who knows if Sheik's attitude was just a façade or not?—but forced himself to let go of his anger. It wouldn't do him any good to alienate the man here.

So the duo shuffled out of the temple and through its courtyard, Navi bobbing along right behind them. Link stared glumly at the ground around them. The grass was brown and dead. The trees had been set ablaze some time ago, and their charred remains were slowly being eroded away by time. The flowers were trampled, uprooted, spoiled. Had Ganondorf reduced this sacred place to such a state? Assuming that he was actually sometime in the past (he was still attempting to come to grips with such a notion) it did line up with the present. If Ganondorf seized the Temple of Time and its surroundings, then the Hylians must have fled to another location, where Hyrule Castle Town stood in Link's true time.

He shook his head. This was nonsense, all nonsense. If this was the past, then why did Sheik and Navi call him by _his _name? Why was he still wearing the same clothes? Unless he was actually supposed to be…no, no, he couldn't possibly be _him_.

Link tried to distract himself by looking at his surroundings again, stuffing down his thoughts about the situation lest he dissolve into hysterics. They had left the courtyard behind them, and were entering what once must have been the town square. The fountain was dry and crumbling, the cobblestone riddled with cracks and shoots of wrinkly grass. Windows were smashed and shattered, and the houses were, like the trees from before, ravished by fire. His mouth suddenly felt too full of saliva, his stomach, too hollow.

Above the devastation towered a mighty castle, black and fearsome.

"Is that—?"

"Watch out!" Shouted Navi. "Redeads!"

Link paled as rotten corpses began to throw themselves out of the abandoned buildings, heaving their limp bodies over the ground. In Arbiter's Grounds, Link had encountered various reanimated creatures, from wraiths to incomprehensible midget skeletons. But these…these _things _that were inching towards them, their aura, felt all wrong. They weren't monsters, wicked servants of Ganondorf or Zant or anyone else. No, these things were something else. Link's eyes caught on their pointed ears, and it all clicked. These redeads were _Hylians_.

Muttering a curse, Sheik glanced over at Link. "I don't suppose you recall the Sun's Song, or that you even own an ocarina?"

"Sheik, these things, they're people, they're actual—"

"Of course you don't," Sheik talked over him with some annoyance. "Brace yourself; I need to set you down to deal with them."

After depositing Link on the cobblestone, he rummaged around in a pouch attached to his hip. The corpses encroached closer and closer, their shrieks chilling Link to his very core. Navi squealed in terror before burrowing her way under Link's cap.

"I can fight." Link offered.

"No."

Link unsheathed the blade on his back, gazing upon it for the first time—with some dread, he saw that it was the Master Sword. He offered it to Sheik.

"Here. You're unarmed, right? Use my sword, but don't…don't kill them. There may be a way to fix them."

Sheik didn't even look at him. "They cannot be saved by any means you or I posses. And only you can wield that sword. Nevertheless, fear not: I shan't kill them." Link sheathed his sword begrudgingly. It was here that Sheik finally procured that which he had been searching for: a harp. Sheik's pouch must have had the same storing spell upon it that Link's had—the object was shrunk down while inside the pouch, but expanded to its true size out in the open.

"What _exactly_ are you planning to do with that? Serenade them?" Link was skeptical. He stiffened unwillingly as the redeads screamed again, now just a few feet away from them.

Then Sheik began to strum the harp. He played in a comfortable allegro, unhurried by the enemies that had steadily surrounded them. Sudden rays of sunlight burst through the thick cloud cover, shining down upon the entire square. The redeads cried as if they had been pierced, and writhed a bit before stilling completely. Their magical presence was immediately erased, their auras nonexistent. If Link hadn't seen them crawling towards them earlier, he would have assumed they were naught but the dead bodies of the townsfolk.

Sheik returned the harp, and helped Link back up. They continued forwards, past the frozen corpses. Link shuddered as they passed them, and was uncertain if his reaction was caused by the stench of the things or the thought of them.

"The sun can only part such evil clouds for so long. And Ganondorf will undoubtedly send in troops to investigate the cause of light in his realm. We must reach Hyrule Field quickly."

After sucking in a hurried breath, Link asked, "What you did back there…with the harp…"

"The Sun's Song, yes."

"How can a song hold power? I don't understand."

As if understanding the Link needed something to draw his mind away from the terrible sights around him, Sheik launched into a detailed explanation.

"My harp was crafted with a very old and very powerful magic, along with several other instruments. Most of them are secured in undisclosed locations; I saw a set of pan pipes being cleaned by Lady Impa once, but no others, sans of course the most famous and powerful of all the instruments: the Ocarina of Time. Unlike the others, the ocarina remained in the possession of one of the Royal Family members at all times, until Princess Zelda saw it fit to pass it onto you for the duration of your quest."

Link had tried to avoid and dismiss it, but he could not shy away from the obvious truth any longer: somehow, when he entered the Temple of Time, he switched bodies with his ancestor. Link was now the Hero of Time from legend. An unexpected guilt flushed his cheeks. The version of the Hero of Time that he knew was but a wraith, a ghost who regretted leaving Hyrule behind for other strange lands, abandoning his son, Link's father, without imparting any of his techniques or advice about life and the world. And though he was but a lingering spirit, Link had still been struck by his enigmatic presence, his awesome mastery of both the sword and wordplay. It seemed almost sacrilegious for Link to be in his body. He wanted to return to his own time as soon as possible. Naturally, that begged the question of how in Nayru's name he was going to manage that feat.

At long last they left the town behind them, coming to a moat. The drawbridge was in shambles, impassable. They would have to swim. Link's body tightened in anticipation. Swimming with his bad leg would be agony, but he would do what he must.

But instead Sheik lowered his cowl, placed two fingers in his mouth, and emitted a loud whistle. To Link's surprise, the whistle was to the same tune as the grass Link used to call his horse. He couldn't be…

Hope prickled in his chest, and only grew stronger as he heard whinnying in the distance. In a matter of minutes a steed stopped short across the moat from them, its reddish brown coat glistening with sweat. It tossed its white mane, pawed a little at the ground.

"Epona!" Link blurted, ignoring the sharp gaze he drew from Sheik. He was so relieved to see at least one familiar face in the past that he couldn't be bothered to care about his cover for the moment. He knew this Epona wasn't really his horse—this girl was considerably thinner than his, though no less hale or spunky for it. But the resemblance otherwise was uncanny; this had to be Epona's ancestor.

The mare's ears swiveled up at her master's call, and she slowly waded through the water towards them, the depth maxing out at the middle of her chest. Once she reached them, Sheik heaved Link atop her, the former surprising the latter with his strength (though the fact that his ancestor's body was quite lean as well probably made it easier for Sheik. Link supposed everyone in this time was lacking a little in nutrition). When he was situated, Sheik led the horse back to the other side of the moat, the water not seeming to bother him in the slightest. Link considered protesting—there was more than enough room for both of them on the horse—but only for a moment, Sheik's heated glare sticking the words to his throat.

They emerged out of the water, and continued on in this way, Link sitting side-saddle atop Epona, Sheik leading the horse towards Kakariko Village. Sheik did not tell him that was where they were going—unless he was asked questions, he remained dead silent. They passed a sign on the way engraved with directions to several surrounding locations, and Link found—thank Nayru—that he could read the script just fine. There were some minor differences in the way some of the letters ended or curled, but he could comprehend the gist. The village was but a few miles from what was once Hyrule Castle Town. Right now it was sometime in the mid afternoon; they should make it there before nightfall, near dusk.

"Is it safe?" Navi asked from the inside of his hood.

"Ah, yes," Link had forgotten she was still in there. He lifted the hat gently off his head. "It's perfectly safe."

"I was real scared there for a moment!" Navi chirped, her tone of voice completely contrasting her words. "I thought we might be in trouble, but I forgot how strong Sheik was! He's very dependable."

"Dependable, eh?" Sheik muttered wryly, looking up at them.

Epona snorted, and started to neigh uneasily, shifting her weight back and forth. Link ran a hand up her withers.

"What's wrong, girl?"

Link could see Sheik stiffen out of the corner of his eye, hear Navi gasp. He followed their gazes, and understood.

Kakariko Village was burning.

* * *

-TBC-


	2. Chapter II

The Bleeding Effect

Chapter II

AN: The second rewritten chapter. The first portion of this chapter has scenes and dialogue from the game itself.

* * *

Kakariko Village was burning.

Link swung his leg over Epona so he was properly seated. He scooted up a little, patting behind him.

"Jump on!" He shouted.

Sheik didn't protest this time. Instead he lifted himself gracefully onto the horse, and the second he was secure Link tapped Epona's flanks, urging her into a gallop. Navi's tiny wings beat furiously to keep pace with them. Link's leg protested with every shift of the horse, but the pain was soon forgotten as they entered the village.

Only one or two buildings in the entire village seemed to be untouched by the blaze. The townspeople were tripping over themselves and each other in their haste to reach Link and his companions, to reach the entrance of the town before the flames engulfed them, too. Link watched helplessly as a roof slid off its frame, collapsing on top of a cuccoo pen. A young woman, sobbing and screaming, tried to run towards the wreckage, but a violet-haired man restrained her, leading her back towards the retreating crowd of people. A door slammed open and a large ginger-haired family scuttled out. To Link's confusion, he saw two of them carrying a deformed skulltula between them. A rather large woman wobbled away from her home, a small mutt yapping at her side. The handful of soldiers the town had were divided and disorganized; some went to rescue people from their homes, whilst others cried for water to quench the flames, their pleas swallowed by the smoke and pandemonium.

"It's Link!"

"Help us, please!"

"Link's here!"

"It's Link, the hero! He's come to save us!"

Several villagers managed to recognize them amidst the frenzy of activity, and came surging towards them, talking over each other with requests for aid.

"We and the soldiers shall take care of this!" Link commanded, dismounting. Sheik followed his lead. "All of you, go further away to the village's entrance, where it's safe! Epona, go with them." The horse whickered and refused to budge from his side, so Link gave her a smack on the rump to galvanize her into action. Once she trotted away towards the location he had dictated, Link pushed through the throng of people, squinting and coughing in the smoke, searching desperately for—

There is was. Thank Farore, the town well was just up the next hill. He half ran, half stumbled to the well, before bracing himself on its stone surface to peer down into it. His heart sank. The well was bone dry. What could he do now? Link turned from the well, blindly searching for the soldiers. He needed to know if there were any additional reserves of water stored up someplace else. If they did not act swiftly, Kakariko Village was finished.

Sheik suddenly gave a strangled cry.

"Get back, Link!"

Before he could reply or react, the ground beneath him started to shudder and shake. An earthquake? Now? Misfortune was clearly smiling upon this poor place. Link squatted and braced himself against the well, gripping the stone tightly. But to his surprise the stone itself began to rattle, and he had to duck as the well's wooden components splintered off and were flung into the air. Link opened his eyes again once he heard the beams fall to the ground again. It was hard to make out through all the chaos and gray smoke, but from what he could see the beams missed hitting any of the villagers. A minor relief.

Sheik had reached Link just as the latter was attempting to stand himself up with the assistance of the ring of stone. Sheik grasped the hero's wrist forcefully before trying to pull him away from the well.

"You need to get away from it," He hissed, tugging so hard Link had to fight to keep his balance.

"What's wrong? What are you—?"

Link's questions were halted as Sheik was violently wrenched away from his side. Link watched in horror as his ally was jerked around, whipped savagely up, down, left, right, by some invisible force.

"Sheik!" He tried to grab for the man, but he didn't even come close to reaching him. Link could only watch, loathing his inability to help, as Sheik was tossed here and there like a child's ragdoll before at last being thrown to the ground. Sheik was unable to suppress a cry as his body made contact with the earth. Link was by his side in an instant, gently rolling him onto his back to ascertain if he was still conscious. Link brushed away the hair from his closed eyes, then felt for bumps. He found one, and his fingers came back slickened with blood.

The hero swore, and threw his pouch open before digging through it hurriedly, pushing past some strange and some familiar weapons, searching for a potion, bandages, anything. His chest was tight and he could barely suck in air, but the cause wasn't the smoke in the atmosphere. Though Sheik seemed to be quite aloof, he obviously cared for Link's wellbeing. His first day in the past had not even ended yet, but already he was starting to consider Navi and Sheik his friends. He prayed to the Goddesses that the injury wasn't too severe. Finding nothing of any practical use in his pouch, Link unsheathed the Master Sword, determined to at the very least wrap a makeshift bandage from his tunic's cloth around Sheik's head before moving him.

As he bound the wound securely Sheik finally began to stir.

"Hero, what…"

"Look, Link, it's coming back!" Navi warned.

Link wondered how she could know, but when he looked up, he saw that the beast had at last revealed itself to them. A huge cloud of black smoke, somehow more sinister than its gray counterpart, twisted and writhed in the air. It soon noticed it had drawn Link's attention and then it began to charge at him, diving so fast the wind screamed around it.

The hero rose, stepping away from Sheik to spare him from the crossfire. He brandished the Master Sword threateningly. This was a very bad idea, and probably hopeless—but he had never let that stop him before.

Out of the corner of his eye Link spotted Sheik reaching for him. The hero would never know what Sheik had intended to do because at that moment the black smoke engulfed Link, cutting him off from Sheik, Navi, Kakariko, everything.

All sensation in his body slowly leeched away. The scratch of smoke in his throat, the spiked warmth of his skin from the fire and activity, the press of cool metal in his hand, the thudding pain from his leg, all gone. His legs would not support him; he went down hard, but he was far beyond pain. He was far beyond anything. It was as if the creature was nothingness incarnate; a shadow, in denial of the light. In denial of existence. And Link was trapped inside of it. He felt his lungs quiver and fail, his heart giving a few sluggish throbs before it gave up. Dimly he felt that he should be very afraid, but he couldn't muster up enough willpower to care.

Wetness dripped onto his face. Tears? Why was he crying?

Link opened his eyes, not knowing when he had closed them. The sky over Kakariko Village was dark, but the rain seemed to be helping quench the fires. Not tears, then. Rain. The soldiers were working together now, snuffing out the now significantly smaller flames with bedcovers, rugs, and horse blankets. A windmill spun in the background. Link stared at it, watched it twirl in an endless, frantic circle.

"…It looks like you're coming around." Sheik was sitting beside him.

He then stood, offering his hand. Link accepted the aid wordlessly, and together they hobbled towards the edge of the village. Two or three buildings still stood, one being Kakariko's inn. Unlike the homes and shops closer to the well, where Link assumed the monster had emerged from, these buildings were miraculously all but unscathed. It seemed that the people had all elected to remain together inside the inn; even from this distance Link could see the candles burning in the windowsills, hear the chatter leaking out from under the door. Someone had thought to tie Epona's reins to a nearby trough, though the water it had once housed had been used to fight the fires earlier that day. She perked up and neighed at their approach, before bending her neck back down to nibble at the grass.

When Sheik, Link, and Navi entered the inn there was a brief, shocked silence, before the villagers erupted with a barrage of questions, everyone talking at once, struggling to have their question heard above all the others, just like when they first arrived.

When Link remained silent and numb, Sheik took over, explaining that the monster had been driven back for now and that they would deal with it for good on the morrow. That seemed to satiate most of them, and they returned back to their respective meals and conversations. Once they knew the hero was on the job, they were able to relax. A few people still lingered, demanding further information about the monster, but Sheik dismissed them with a glare. He led Link over to a table near the back, away from most of the others. Link's body and mind felt as if they were stuck in molasses; his limbs were slow to respond, his thoughts gooey and incomprehensible.

A barmaid approached them instantly, and burdened their table with a hearty meal and mead. The food looked fresh and wonderful, but Link's stomach roiled with nausea. He took a few small bites of the mashed potatoes and nibbled briefly at the beef—it all tasted like ash in his mouth—before giving up, pushing his plate towards the center of the table.

But Sheik wasn't having any of that.

"You must eat," He insisted, pushing the full plate back towards Link.

Link pursed his lips and shook his head, and began to stand up. Sheik was fast, though; before Link was even fully out of his chair Sheik was firmly forcing him back into it, unrelenting hands pushing down on Link's shoulders.

Sheik returned to his seat as well. The two of them glared at each other, neither willing to give in.

"Eat." He ordered, again. Link denied him with a shake of his head. "Stop being such a _child_. I do not doubt that what that shadow did to you, whatever that was, was terrible, but dwelling upon it serves no use. Now, eat. Or am I going to have to force feed you in front of all these people? I am not bluffing; I will, if I must."

Sheik's eyes glinted, and Link knew the man was not lying. He struggled to clear his throat. Monsters that he had faced during his own personal quest rarely provoked quite a strong reaction from him. If he could just explain what that creature was, how it thought, Sheik would not find him childish. He would sympathize, he would understand, if only Link's damned vocal chords would start working again.

"What is that monster doing in here?" A man thundered, his anger punctuated by the crash of his chair to the floor as he stood. The entire inn froze, watching on as the man stalked over to a secluded table, one of the few not illuminated by the candlelight. The man grabbed one of its occupants by the scruff of his shirt, dragging them into the light. It was one of the red-haired boys Link had seen earlier. The lad trembled in the man's grip. Some of the boy's relatives came up to flank him, all rather small and unimpressive. Nevertheless, they drew up their fists without fear. The remaining family members placed themselves protectively in front of the table.

"Listen to me, please, he's not a monster, he's not a monster!" The first boy babbled, his hands held up in surrender. "He's just been cursed, our whole family was cursed for our greed, but we've learned, we know better now, but the curse just hasn't been lifted from him yet. He just needs some time. _Please_, I'm telling you, it's not what you think."

"That's just what you want us to believe. How stupid do you think we are? I saw that _thing_—" He stabbed his finger towards the table. "—over there with my own two eyes. You thought you were very clever eh, very clever indeed. Thought if you just kept quiet in the corner no one would notice the monster you had on the table. But for all we know, that thing probably helped that smoke bastard destroy our town!"

The people started to mutter amongst themselves. The boy tried to twist out of the hold, crying denials, to no avail.

"And furthermore," The man continued, cords standing out on his neck, face flushed with fury. "I want to know exactly how those fires got started. The smoke monster didn't emerge from the well until well after the fires destroyed almost all the town! It had to have some spies on the inside!"

"Let us see the creature!" Someone cried.

"Why are you hiding it, if you're not working with the monster?"

"Where were you when the fires started?"

"Yeah, yeah, let's see the thing on the table. If you're telling the truth you've got nothing to worry about, right?"

The crowd was starting to turn nasty, and Link needed to stop this altercation before it got any more out of hand and blows were traded. He started to stagger towards the front of the inn, Sheik coming to his side to support his steps.

But before Link could get too far one of the red-heads tried to grab for his restrained family member, and the villager snapped out a mighty punch, hard enough to send him stumbling back, hard enough to draw blood.

_Blue_ blood.

Oh Din.

"They're all monsters! All of them!" A woman's shrieks were the catalyst for an all-out brawl.

The family did their best to dodge the onslaught of attacks headed their way, gliding across the room like nimble spiders on their webs. But soon enough they were caught and captured, pummeled viciously to the hard wooden floor. A few men had managed to secure the half-skulltula, half-man, and were yanking at its legs, the poor thing's scream like a dagger through Link's mind.

"Enough!" Link ordered, shaking off Sheik to place himself in the thick of the chaos. "Leave them alone, _now_."

The townsfolk obeyed slowly, begrudgingly, and Link felt his right hand prickle at the surge of power, but he chose not to dwell on it. Right now, controlling this crowd and fixing the damage that had been done took priority over all else. How had everything managed to get so out of hand in a matter of minutes?

"These people are Hylians, just as you and I are. The only difference between us and them is that they were unfortunate enough to be cursed, like one of you might be unfortunate enough to catch a cough. They have lived peacefully beside you for years, I'm sure, and have never attempted to harm you in any way. I understand that you are angry. I understand that you are afraid. Your homes and livelihoods have just been wiped out by that foul creature, and you're trying to place the blame upon someone because you cannot confront the monster itself. So please, calm down. This is _not _how civilized Hylians act. Now someone please get some bandages for these people."

Throughout his speech, Link watched with relief as the villagers' anger gave way to awareness and shame. Some people started to lift the family members up off the floor and into booths, and several of the women had scuttled away to who knows where to locate medicines.

Link approached the disfigured skulltula, who had been gently placed back on top of the table. The hero frowned at his harsh breathing, the streaks of blue running down his body like tiny rivers. The skulltula-man's eyes flickered up to him, questioning.

"I will heal you," Link vowed, nearly overcome by emotion. He understood the misery of being cursed, the pain of being cast out from the presence of others.

"Thank you, oh thank you, bless you, may the Goddesses bless you." The cursed man started to weep.

Some of the family members approached them then, drying the skulltula-man's tears, tending to his wounds. Link left them in peace and rejoined Sheik, who had by then returned to their table.

"Why didn't you intervene?" Link's tone wasn't accusatory, simply curious.

"Because you needed to."

"I…" Link bent down a little to give him a grateful side-hug. Though Sheik stiffened and didn't reciprocate, he didn't pull away either. "Thank you, Sheik. Truly. I know it has been a long day, for all of us, but would you mind filling me in with what I've forgotten?"

"Only if you eat."

Link laughed, and picked up his fork. "Of course."

* * *

-TBC-


	3. Chapter III

The Bleeding Effect

Chapter III

AN: This chapter has _new content_, for all you faithful old readers! Huzzah! Enjoy! I also made up two words in this chapter because I can! Huzzah!

* * *

Link awakes.

Blue eyes track an unfamiliar ceiling before falling to the bedside, where a stranger lays asleep in a chair. Link shifts a little to get a closer look. The person is a young lady—Hylian, like him, he can tell by the exaggerated points of her ears—and has short, oddly stylized hair. He has never seen her before in his life.

Link frowns. He was just in the Temple of Time, the Water Medallion still shiny and slightly damp in his item pouch, when odd flashes the likes of which he had never experienced before kept replacing his traveling companions with a worried little imp. Then his mind had hazed over, and now he is in an unfamiliar room with someone he has no memory of.

"Navi?" He whispers, so the girl won't stir. He sits up on the bed, drawing his knees close to his chest, blankets piling at his feet. His body feels too big for him. He thought he had gotten over this sensation already, but apparently not. "Navi, where are you? It's safe for now, she's asleep. You can come out."

He waits, but he never hears the slight jingling noise she makes when she flies, nor the loud squeak of her high-pitched voice.

It is only now that he begins to truly panic, his breaths shallowing in his chest. Sheik is gone, Navi is gone. She's always been by his side, ever since they started out on their journey. She can't leave him yet, she can't, it's not fair, they haven't stopped Ganondorf yet, she can't leave—

"Link?" The girl rubs her eyes, her drowsy gaze upon him. Link freezes on the bed. "Are you alright? What happened? We found you unconscious by the fountain this morning."

"Get away from me." She might actually be a friend, an ally, but he cannot trust her. He cannot. Not again. He promised Sheik he would never trust a single stranger again after…_that_…unless Navi or he said they were safe to trust.

"Where are Sheik and Navi?" Link demands. "Where have you taken them?"

The girl tries to edge closer to the bed, to him. Link scrambles backwards off of it, legs tangled in the blankets, ignoring her cry of surprise and the surge of pain it brings his body as he hits the hardwood floor. Link doesn't hesitate, and once he's completely on the ground and has kicked away the covers he retreats further from her, eyes flickering from the right to the girl to the left and back again, searching for a weapon, a way out, until he backs into the wall. It's no good. The girl is between him and the only door, and there's nothing here he can utilize as a weapon. Stripped of his weapons and his friends, he's naked and helpless before the stranger, just like _that time_. He starts to tremble, his chest heaving.

His ears twitch, and he hears a distant set of feet thundering up stairs. A man soon bursts into the room, sending the wooden door quivering on its hinges. Link cringes at the noise, and his eyes are draw to the simple blade held in the man's grip.

"What's going on, Ilia? Link?" The swordsman looks back and forth between the two, sandy eyebrows drawn down.

The girl—Ilia, the second stranger had said—turns towards the man. "I don't know what's wrong with him. He woke up and then freaked out when I got close to him. He mentioned two people, Sheik and Navi, but I've never heard of them before…"

"You're lying!" Link shouts. The two of them look towards him and Link's heart rate spikes, but they do not draw any closer. He feels brave enough to continue. "You've done something to them, I'm sure of it! Tell me where they are!"

The man sighs heavily, neatly sheathing his sword. Link's eyes are riveted on the blade, mind whirring with thoughts of how to grab it. He can probably subdue the girl, despite how clunky and out of sorts his body feels, but by the time he makes it across the room, the man will have drawn the blade again, and Link will be stuck. Can he inch towards them slowly, so the man doesn't notice until it's too late to react? What if it backfires? What will they do to him?

"I was afraid this might happen to him someday." The man speaks as if Link is not in the room with them. "His journey is not something to be taken lightly. I've seen similar actions and behavioral patterns from many soldiers before. They would see or do something terrible out on the field, and then relive it later. Many also become quite violent."

Ilia glances at Link, eyes swimming with worry. He hisses and shrinks further back. "Is there anything that we can do for him, Rusl?"

"I'm afraid not," Rusl replies grimly. He opens the door and steps out, then beckons her towards it. "The only thing that can help him now is solitude and the passage of time. We'll return on the morrow to see if he has snapped out of it yet. Hopefully it is but a short spell. Otherwise, I do not know what we shall do."

Ilia slowly starts to back up, her hands raised nonthreateningly. Link is still not fully convinced.

"Alright, Link, alright. I'll just…leave you alone for a little while, alright? I'll let you settle down. If you need anything, or…or you want to talk, I'll be right downstairs, waiting. I promise."

When the girl still hesitates in the threshold of the doorway, Rusl barks out another "Ilia!" and she finally follows him outside the room. The door closes, and Link can hear the _snick _of a lock, the soft cadence of her and his footsteps descending back down the stairs, and then it's just Link's heavy breathing that disturbs the silence.

"Good riddance. I thought the girly would never leave."

Link yelps at the altogether new voice. He casts about for its origin, but he cannot find it.

"Who are you? _Where_ are you? Show yourself!"

"You're wondering where Navi is, aren't you?"

"Yes, yes! Where is she?"

"What is Navi to you?"

Link's first thought is that he should remain silent. He cannot trust anyone but Sheik and Navi. But the voice…he doesn't understand why, but for some reason, it reminds him of his fairy. He feels as if he can place his faith in this voice.

"She's…she's my friend. She helps me on my journey. She tells me who's good and who's bad."

"Why don't you decide for yourself who is good and who is bad?"

Link whips his head back and forth in vicious denial. "No, no, I can't, I tried but, and then, and I promised Sheik I wouldn't…" He trails off pathetically.

"…I see. What land do you hail from?"

"I thought I was of the Kokiri Tribe, but I recently came to discover I'm actually a Hylian."

"What year is it?"

Link blinks in confusion, shifts a bit on the floor. "1510, in the year of our Goddesses. You ask weird questions."

There is a pregnant pause, and Link wonders if the voice left him, too. Just as he reaches the edge of panic again, the voice speaks.

"You are the Hero of Time, correct?"

"Yes," He answers dubiously, unsure of where this is going.

"…I'm afraid your schedule has been a little upset. You're not on your way to fight Ganondorf anymore. There's another task you've been assigned."

"But Princess Zelda and Sheik told me I needed to—"

"The princess and Sheik informed me to tell you of the change of plans."

"What about Navi?"

"Navi…cannot be with you at the moment, Link."

"What? Why?"

"She has a different job at the moment."

"You're lying!" Link yells, voice loud in the small room. Tears sting his eyes. "She just got lost or something! Or that man and girl are holding her captive somewhere! I just need to find her! I don't believe you!"

"I'm not saying that you'll never see her again," The voice is quick to console. "There are just a few things that you need to do first. Then you will be reunited with her."

He sniffles. "Really? You promise?"

"Yes, I promise. In the meantime, I shall act in Navi's place. I will be your guide, your conscience."

"Who are you?"

There is a short lull, then he starts as the owner of the voice emerges from his shadow. It is the little gray-black imp he saw before.

"I am Midna."

* * *

This situation is hardly believable, and quite unprecedented, but Midna cannot deny the facts set in front of her, or the conclusion that they lead her to.

When she and Link attempted to go to the past to reclaim the mirror shard, the Hero of Time must have entered the temple at the exact same time as well. Their minds bled into each other's, and now her wolf is trapped in the past while she is stuck with this child trapped in an adult's body.

Either that, or her doggie is a loon.

Regardless, she needs him in order to obtain the last two fragments of the Mirror of Twilight, sane or not. So she soothes the boy with lies, (forcing back her usual snark turns out to be quite the chore) and the further she continues the charade the more she begins to feel that this Link truly is the Hero of Time. He's nothing at all like her Hylian—where her Link is (mostly) calm and mature, this person is easily confused, frustrated, and satisfied, just like a child. A spark of hope flares to life in her chest—if the two minds truly _did _swap, then all she has to do is undo it. She will lead him back to the Sacred Grove, and everything will work out.

It has to.

* * *

"Midna…"Link repeats the name slowly, rolling the syllables around in his mouth. He folds his arms around his chest petulantly. "Navi sounds prettier."

"Well ex_cuse_ me, Link! We can't all be perfect little Navi. And it's not as if I chose the name myself—my parents are the one to blame, not me."

Link straightens, one word in particular snagging his attention. "You met your parents? What were they like?"

Midna blinks. "Most everyone has met their parents at _least _once or twice, yeah. What happened to yours?" The Twilight Princess winces at her snappish retort. Her Link is immune to her caustic remarks, her scathing sarcasm. In some of their conversations, he even gives back as good as he gets. But this boy is still so wet behind the ears, so obviously, painfully sensitive. She's trying to hold back, truly, she's trying. But the boy makes it so easy…

Link drops his gaze from Midna. He scoots his butt over on the ground so he's not sitting on the wood anymore, but a throw rug. His fingers tangle and untangle in the rug's fibers.

"As I mentioned earlier, for a long time, I always thought I hailed from the Kokiri Tribe, the wood-children given life and form by the magnificent and wise Great Deku Tree." He chuckles once, mirthlessly. "Well, at least that was what I wanted to think. But I grew while none of them ever aged. My ears were pointy whilst theirs were round. And…for a long time, I never had a fairy. When Navi came to me, I was so relieved. I thought that maybe I really was a Kokiri, just a little…different. But when I came back to the forest later, in my older body, the Deku Tree Sprout told me the truth. I was a Hylian all along.

And then…and then he told me about my mother. My _real _mother. She took me into the Kokiri Forest when she was gravely wounded, even though it is forbidden for anyone but tree spirits to dwell there. She bade the Great Deku Tree take me in, and he did so, but at a price—my mother was transformed into a tree. I always wondered after he told me this. Had I passed by my mother unknowingly when I played with Saria? Had I swung from her limbs? Romped about in her fallen leaves, used her sticks as swords? Is she still awake and aware, and trapped? Does she hate me? Does she…love me? I will never know anything for certain."

He pauses then, for a while. Midna does not reproach him for wasting time dallying over his emotions when he could instead be utilizing this time to save the world like Sheik would, and Link likes her all the more for that. Navi had, naturally, been by his side when the Deku Tree Sprout had divulged this information, but they had never actually discussed it, too focused on reaching the next temple, locating the next medallion. Link feels as if a weight on his chest he had not realized was there has suddenly disappeared.

As an afterthought, he tacks on, "The Deku Tree Sprout said nothing about my father, so I don't believe I'll ever know who he was, if he is still alive or not."

Midna has been sitting across from him this entire time, listening intently. Now she begins to speak.

"I had quite a different experience growing up than you did. I hail from the Twilight Realm, a world that exists adjacent to yours. Your realm and its denizens flourish in the light; we Twili much prefer dusk, and darkness. We need to visit my realm soon, and you'll understand the difference. You might actually find it more pleasing than here."

"But what would happen to me?" Link asks, with a touch of trepidation. "There's a reason our realms are separate, right? What would happen to me if I went into the Twilight Realm? Would my body change? Would my mind?"

"…We'll address that shortly. But right now, we're getting sidetracked. You wanted to hear about my parents, right?"

Link nods vigorously. He draws his legs up to his chest, rests his chin on his knees. He watches her attentively as she talks, eyes wide.

"My parents were the previous King and Queen of the Twilight Realm. They treated their subjects with kindness and fairness, and acted the same way towards me. My father and I often delighted in pranking the guards. Sometimes he would even sneak me away from under their forever watchful eyes, so I could play with the other children of the kingdom without their stares boring into my back." Midna's smile is fond with nostalgia, and it warms Link's heart. "My mother, on the other hand, was always more practical. It was she who instructed me in the magical arts, though in the royal line it is normally the father that does so. She was always up for a moral debate, and not once did I ever trounce her in a chess match."

"What happened to them?"

"Why don't you sit back on the bed, where it is more comfortable? You can tell me your story, and I shall tell you mine." She had failed to be honest from the beginning with her Link; she refuses to make the same mistake twice. Link can be trusted, no matter which Link it is. She will tell him everything, save for the fact that he has been thrust into the future. Hopefully she will be able to safely return him to his proper time without him noticing any advancements or discrepancies. It's for his own good, and time's too—who knows how this switch will affect history as they know it.

So they talk through the rest of the night and well into the next morning, and when Link finally drifts off, Midna does not return to his shadow immediately. Instead she stares at Link, watches the gentle rise and fall of his chest. In his sleep, in the darkness, he looks younger.

"We've gotten ourselves into one hell of a mess, haven't we, kiddo?"

Link snorts and rolls over.

* * *

"Midna?" His voice is frantic. He stumbles around the room, looking under the bed, in the closet, the drawers, "Midna, where did you go? Where are you?"

"I'm here, right here," She assures, slipping into the light. "What's wrong?"

"When I woke up you were gone! Just gone!"

"It doesn't matter if you can see me or not. I am always by your side, in your shadow. You have no need to fear."

He shakes, and swallows, throat still thick with sleep. "Well, regardless, I don't like that you just…go."

"Would you like me to say goodby—"

"No!" He shouts, startling them both. "No," He repeats, quieter. "I'm sorry. Not that word. Something else."

"How about 'See you later'?"

"Yeah…yeah, I like that. I like that a lot." He smiles at her, and she smiles back.

* * *

-TBC-

AN: Link's back story is cannon, Midna's little blurb is not.


	4. Chapter IV

The Bleeding Effect

Chapter IV

AN: Last rewritten chapter! Everything that follows this will be new! Hurrah!

* * *

"Hero."

A hand jostled his shoulder, trying to coax him into wakefulness.

"Five m're minutes, Mida," He mumbled, not even bothering to open his eyelids. He shifted on the bed, turning his back to her. He tensed, preparing for her usual rebuttal of a slap or kick. Nothing came. Thank Nayru, the little imp was actually going to allow him to sleep in for once.

Then awareness doused him like a bucket of ice water.

He tensed even further, and slowly shifted so he was back to facing who could only be Sheik. He opened his eyes, heart stuttering about in his ribcage for making such a stupid, _stupid _mistake. Sheik returned his slack-jawed stare with narrowed eyes, any further reactions hidden by the cowl.

"Sorry, Sheik, I was…dreaming." Link blurted. He licked his lips. His face was burning, and he swallowed past the sudden itch in his throat. He needed to fix this, and fast. "I thought I was in the Kokiri Forest, and I was talking to one of the girls who lived there. Her name was Midna. Sorry. So, are we leaving now?"

It was then that Navi fluttered into the bedroom, jabbering away about something or other. Sheik's attention was splintered between them, and Link slumped with relief.

"—so great to see you're awake and recharged, we should probably get going to the Shadow Temple, we are really behind schedule thanks to that confounded monster from the well, but I don't know if we should halt the quest further to try to locate a Great Fairy anyway because of your leg, there used to be one near the top of Death Mountain, but who knows if she's still there after—"

"Enough, Navi," Sheik cut in wearily, before turning back to Link again. "Do you feel well enough to continue? Be honest."

Link shifted on the bed so his feet dangled over the side. He lowered the previously injured leg tentatively to the floor. Last night, after Sheik concluded his tales about the Hero and his quest up to that point, he secured a double bedroom at the inn for both of them as well as an armful of healing potions for Link. Sheik urged him to drink them all before he went up to the room, and Link managed to convince him to take two out of the pile for himself to counteract the damage he collected when the smoke monster threw him about. Link had to fall asleep with the absolutely wretched aftertaste soiling his mouth, as there was nothing to wash it down with, most of the liquids having been used to help put out the fires. The village's soldiers supposedly set out during the night to collect water from the few nearby rivers untainted by Ganondorf's minions, and to purchase a massive supply of milk from Lon Lon Ranch.

Now it was time to test how well the potions had done their job.

His foot touched the floor, and only the smallest flare of pain assaulted him. This was infinitely more tolerable than before.

"It's much better."

"Hooray!" Chirped Navi, who hovered at his shoulder.

"Good," Sheik said, striding to the bedroom door. "We shall take breakfast downstairs before we head out. I acquired some water for us last night for the journey, so do not worry about that. Make the bed before you leave the room."

"Wait," Link said bemusedly, running his hand over thick wool covers. "There are two blankets on my bed, and I only had one last night."

Sheik fiddled with his cowl, as if making sure it was still secure, hiding most of his face from Link's view. "You were injured more thoroughly than I was. Additionally, you encountered that shadow beast's true form. You needed it more than I did."

Link bristled. "You didn't need to do that. I would have been perfectly fine without it."

"Make the bed," Sheik reiterated, stepping out of the room. "Then come downstairs for breakfast."

He shut the door with a bit more force than was strictly necessary.

As Link smoothed the covers and plumped the pillows, his mind drifted to Midna, to how her normally cocky face transformed into one of fear and worry. He needed to find a way to get back to her. Would simply stepping back into the Temple of Time be enough to switch him back? Or was there a reason for him to be here, something that he had to accomplish first?

He shook his head, and after dressing he left the room with Navi in tow. For now, he decided to remain with Navi and Sheik and pray that something changed. Unless he somehow obtained more information about his situation, remaining with them and continuing on his ancestor's quest was really all he could do.

He stepped down the remaining few steps and he was back in the bar and dining area from the night before. A few heads swiveled in his direction, but for the most part, everyone remained wrapped up in their own private conversations. All in all, it was significantly calmer than it had been last night. He scanned the room for Sheik.

"Ah, Link! There you are." An unfamiliar voice boomed through the crowd.

Link searched for the speaker, but he didn't have to wait too long: a violet-haired man was squeezing his way through the rabble towards him, a wide smile stretching his face.

His grin faltered at Link's blank look, morphing into a perplexed frown. He waved a hand in front of the hero's face. "Hel-_lo_, Link, anyone home? I'm talking to you here."

"Link is having difficulties with his memory right now," Navi explained. "He doesn't remember anything, or anyone."

The stranger looked at Link, who nodded in affirmation to Navi's statement.

"How did this happen?"

"We're not quite sure. He just fainted after we left the Water Temple, and when he woke up, he couldn't recall a single thing. Well, he still remembered how to speak and that his name was Link, but that was it."

"Is that so?" The man asked rhetorically, rubbing his chin. "That is strange, quite strange indeed. But where are my manners?" Here he straightened his posture, before sweeping into a deep bow. "My name is Kafei Dotour."

Kafei rose, and offered his hand. Slightly amused by the man's over the top antics, Link shook it. Rusl had always said one could tell a lot about a man by the kind of handshake he gave. Kafei's grip was firm and confident. He shook their hands twice before releasing Link's.

Kafei then leaned in close, murmuring in the shell of Link's ear, so the surrounding tables couldn't overhear his next words. His eyes narrowed, and instead of looking goofy and grandiose as he had when he introduced himself, he was suddenly serious and no-nonsense. "I am a fervent supporter of your crusade against King Ganondorf, along with my darling wife, Anju. Not a lot of people have the gall resist the dark king as we do. Sure, they listened to your instructions when the town was in turmoil, but now? Deep down, you unsettle them, set their teeth on edge. As long as they pay a monthly tribute of goods to the king, he generally leaves Kakariko alone. But if he caught wind of the fact that you were here, and none of the villagers reported it to him…" His lips pursed. "Let's just say that his wrath would make the damage done yesterday seem like mere child's play. You have seen the fate that befell many of the citizens of Hyrule Castle Town, have you not?"

Link nodded.

"So I don't even have to elaborate, you know exactly what I am talking about. Now, the people of Kakariko Village might be scared, but they are not bad people. But you must always be wary when entering a new community. There's no telling who is friend or foe, who is earnestly trying to help you and who is a spy of the enemy. Did Sheik already tell you about what happened when you went to—"

"I haven't, nor do I intend to." Another voice interjected.

"Sheik!" Link exclaimed, eyes widening in surprise. The Sheikah had snuck up behind them as they were talking. Now he was glowering at Kafei, who frowned in aggravation back at him. Link watched the pair, bewildered.

"He needs to know. His ignorance is what caused the situation in the first place."

"No. Leave now, Kafei. Return to your wife. We have business to attend to."

"But…" Kafei trailed off with a frustrated sigh. "Fine. Have it your way. Don't come crying to me like you did last time if it happens again. Link, it was a pleasure. I'll see you around. Be safe." With a short nod at the hero, Kafei turned on his heel. He slapped the big grin on again, and after charming a few of the ladies he flounced out the door.

"Come." Sheik led Link to the same semi-secluded table they had supped at the night before. He pointed to the breakfast that was ready and waiting. "Eat."

"What was Kafei talking about?" Link insisted.

"We are not discussing this."

"Yes we are! What are you keeping from me?"

"It needn't concern you at this time."

"_Sheik_." Link growled. The Sheikah quirked one eyebrow, unimpressed. They glared at each other across the table, and Link wondered if these clashes of wills between them were going to become commonplace. Even though he and Midna oftentimes bantered, when it came down to it, they were loyal and trusting of each other, Midna doubly so after the incident with Zant. But Sheik seemed to fight him at every turn.

After a time Link relented, and turned to his meal. Though he had not given up hope of learning what the story was, he knew he would never get a whisper of it from Sheik. Perhaps he would track down Kafei later, if time permitted it. Navi probably knew, as well.

"So where is Princess Zelda now?" Link wanted to change the subject, but he wasn't making just idle chatter—the Hylian princess might know what to do. She would be able to sense that the connection between her and Link felt odd, frayed. She would be able to devise some solution to this time traveling issue, Link was certain. Princess Zelda was the bearer of the Triforce of Wisdom; if she couldn't figure out a plan, no one could.

"I cannot say."

Link twitched. The history textbooks had never mentioned that the famed Sheik had been so…obstinate. He would have to inform Shad when he returned.

"What do you mean, you cannot say? You told me that I was her best friend. Don't I have a right to know what happened to her?"

"She is as safe as she can be, given the circumstances, and in hiding. That is all that you need to know."

"Why won't you tell me anything?" Link complained, frustrated.

"I am not permitted to divulge such information. Only Lady Impa can."

"Fine then. Where is Impa?"

Sheik shrugged. "I do not know. Perhaps with the princess."

Link groaned, and stood up. Sheik stood as well.

"Where are you going? You don't know where the Shadow Temple is, I must take you there. And you didn't finish your breakfast."

"I'm going out for a bit, _mother_," Link said shortly. "Wait for me here."

"What about the temple? You cannot just—"

"The temple's not exactly going anywhere, now is it? I'll be back soon, but right now, I would appreciate it if you left me alone."

Link stepped out from the warmth of the inn and into the chilled fall air. The torrent of rain from yesterday had slowed to a miserable drizzle. Link's boots squelched in the mud and watery ash as he stomped further into the town. He needed to put some distance between himself and that infuriating man before they came to blows, or worse, Link blurted out something that revealed he was not the Hero of Time. Sheik hardly believed his threadbare lie about a lack of memory as it was, and it certainly didn't help that he had said Midna's name earlier that morning. He would have to be more careful if he was to make this work.

Navi suddenly cleared her throat and Link startled, having forgotten that she was still floating by his side.

"So you really haven't figured it out yet?"She asked.

"What are you talking about?"

Navi giggled. "This is weird. You were the one who suggested it to me first, and now you haven't a clue. Sheik is Zelda!"

Link stopped short. "What?" That couldn't be right. The bond he always felt between them after he met Princess Zelda had been all but sheared off since he got here, not to mention the fact that Sheik was clearly a _man_. He could not outright dismiss the idea entirely, though. The few books he read concerning the Hero of Time never clearly explained Sheik. There were detailed descriptions about his fairy Navi, and his relationship with the princess, but though historians praised Sheik's skill with weaponry, little else was said. Link did recall that he was not by the Hero of Time's side when he confronted Ganondorf in his castle, after the king kidnapped Princess Zelda. So did he die before then? Or was Sheik just a front for the princess? And perhaps he simply didn't feel drawn towards the Princess Zelda in this time because it wasn't _his _Princess Zelda. Link had been told stories of women who disguised their bodies with cloths and bandages in order to fight alongside men in wars. It was rare, to be sure, but not unfeasible.

"…I suppose it is possible," Link admitted.

They had reached the village's graveyard. Link paused to dance his fingers across an anonymous tombstone. A fond smile curled his lips as memories of Queen Rutela and her brave little boy, Prince Ralis, resurfaced. The Kakariko Graveyard was more lush and better tended to in the past. He crouched to admire a handful of flourishing daffodils growing atop one of the graves.

"Link, if you're calmed down now we should probably head back to the inn." Navi suggested. "We cannot afford to dally too long."

"You're right," Link consented, rising, brushing away the few bits of dirt that had clung to his leggings.

But as he stood the surface of the grave that he had been standing on gave way beneath him. With a cry of alarm, Link pulled at loose soil and fragile roots as he slipped, desperate for any semblance of purchase. The mud just oozed out between his fingers, and the ground swallowed him completely.

* * *

Link landed hard, jarring his still-recovering leg. Staggering sideways, vision discolored by pain, he stumbled until he came in contact with what could have been a stone wall, or perhaps very compact dirt. It was too dark to tell. Link didn't care as he sagged against it, only glad that it allowed him to ease the pressure off of his bad leg.

"Navi, are you alright?" Link shouted, hacking the soil out of his lungs.

"I can _fly_, you know. Of course I'm alright. It's you I'm worried about! How far down are you? Are you hurt? Can you move?" Her voice was small, distant. She was still above ground, then. Link blinked upwards. He couldn't see a thing. He waved his free hand in front of his eyes. Nope, still nothing.

Link had to clear his throat before he could answer her. "I'm fine, but I seem to be in some underground structure. There's no light down here, so I can't tell anything for sure."

"I'll go get help! Stay right there!"

She must have left, then, because there was no response to the snarky retort he yelled up at her.

Link carefully slid to the floor, resting his back against the wall. He twiddled his thumbs idly, but froze as a faint noise made his ears prickle. It sounded like…singing? Link tried to ignore it. While he was brave, he was by no means foolhardy. Though the Master Sword still remained secure in its scabbard after the fall, thank Farore, he had no wish to fight blind if that voice belonged to an enemy.

As if in response to his cold shoulder, the voice swiftly swelled in volume, louder, louder, _louder_, until Link was burying his sensitive ears with his hands, hunched over in a ball.

"Stop it, just stop it!" His plea was swallowed by the awesome sound. "Stop it, it hurts!"

The tune burrowed past his hands, through his ears, to his brain.

It whispered, _move, move, this way, closer, closer…_

Link stood against his will. His body shuddered in protest as he started to walk towards the singer.

"Stop it, stop, stop moving!" He instructed himself, but he kept walking. He threw his hands out wide, trying to snag them stuck in the wall. He needed to buy time for Sheik and Navi to return, to help him snap his body out of this trance before it was too late. Blood and filth collected beneath the beds of his fingernails as he grazed them against the walls. He kept walking. He dragged his feet, beseeched the Goddesses, but he kept walking.

At length, the darkness before him was eaten away by a new light. He wanted to bring his hands up to shield his eyes from the glare, but the farther forewords he walked the less control he had over his body. His arms fell to dangle limply by his sides. He closed his eyes.

Who was doing this? A sorceress of Ganondorf's—or perhaps a harpy? He gave one last gambit for control of his body, throwing all the mental energy he had into it. His body did not so much as twitch in acknowledgement.

Then the singing stopped, and Link felt his control over his body return, the spell lifted. Link doubled over immediately, lungs empty and clutching for air. In his panic, his frantic and fruitless attempts to break the spell, he had never felt his body scream for air as the song sucked away his ability to breathe. Now that the spell had ended, the ramifications were hitting him with full force. His eyes were squeezed shut, still stinging from the sudden brightness.

"Greetings, hero."

The voice of the singer caused him to jerk upright, eyes flying open to the woman hovering before him. He took in her size, the style of her hair, the violets and vegetation draped around her, her nudity—she appeared to be a Great Fairy, kin to the ones he had encountered in the Cave of Trials. But where they had been young and lovely to the eye, this one was undoubtedly ancient. Her purple hair hung in greasy snaggles around her face, her legs were bloated blue with veins, and deep wrinkles were carved into the flesh of her face, her spidery limbs.

In time, Link managed to summon his ability to speak again. "Who are you? Why have you brought me here?"

She dipped her head in acknowledgement. "I am the Great Fairy of Truth, servant of Roark."

"Roark?" Link echoed, brows creasing in thought.

"Oh, but where is my mind these days!" She chided herself, clapping her hands together. The Great Fairy floated towards Link. He flinched as she waved an arm over his head, but relaxed slightly as he felt only the familiar warmth of a healing spell run through him. The pain in his leg alleviated completely, and the stinging beneath his fingernails faded.

"Thank you." Link was unsure of what else to say.

The Great Fairy of Truth dismissed his gratitude. "Nonsense my boy, nonsense. I apologize for forcing you to come here, but I knew there was no way you would stumble upon my fountain by accident. It must have given you quite the fright, but I assure you, I meant no harm. I heard your voice in the hall, and I just could not resist the chance to meet a fellow follower of Roark."

"There you go talking about that 'Roark' person again. I have no clue who you are talking about."

The Great Fairy drew back, aghast. "Roark has yet to approach his chosen one and impart his mission? How odd…"

"I serve Farore, the Goddess of Courage, and her sisters, Din and Nayru, not this false God you speak of."

"False?" She hissed. "_False_! You fool! Roark exists just as surely as his three sisters do."

"Blasphemy! If such a God exists, why were there only three triangles left to us, and not four? Look!" Here he yanked his gauntlet off with his teeth before thrusting his right hand towards her face. Bared was the mark of the Goddesses, the Triforce.

"No, hero, you're not looking at this correctly." She took his hand between both of hers. He shivered at her cold touch. "It is all a matter of perspective. See the truth now. Amidst these three triangles is a fourth." She pointed to the center of the Triforce, at the inverted triangle of skin.

"Roark is the God of Truth. He did not trust the beings his sisters created. He feared that if they obtained His power, they would warp and distort reality to fit their evil designs. He refused to craft a triangle to complete the Tetraforce, and Goddesses, enraged, slashed Him from history. Since then He has always acted from the shadows, trying to steer the world in the right direction, when He is able."

"No, no, this is ludicrous," Link shook his head in denial, pulling his hand away from the Great Fairy. "I don't believe you."

"Nevertheless, I shall bestow upon you my gift. I pray that in time you will understand, that Roark Himself might approach you and wash away all your doubts and skepticism."

"Gift? What are you planning on—hey!"

She cupped his cheeks, and pressed her lips to his. Link recoiled, tried to push her away to no avail. He felt something like ice slide down his throat, chill his heart.

Then she released him, retreated a little. He gaped. It was as if he was seeing her for the first time. Before, all he had seen was an aged, sacrilegious fairy. Now he saw a pure, honest soul, marred by time and the heavy burden of knowledge.

Link's fingers curled in his tunic, over his heart, which was still frozen.

"What have you done to me?"

"With my gift, you know posses the ability to see beneath the superficial, beneath the surface. You can see the truth, the reality, the very heart of things." She smiled wistfully. "Once, a Kakariko Villager happened upon my fountain. A scientist, I believe. When I offered him this power, he requested I concentrate its power in a lens, so that he might study it. Quite an odd fellow, he was. He named his instrument 'The Eye of Truth'. A fitting name. I placed the gift inside your body so you would not have to juggle both an instrument of truth and your weapons in battle. It will be of great help to you on your journey, I have no doubt of that. Now, I must admit, I do not know how you found the hallway that leads to this fountain. The scientist came here through his extensive, paranoid digging underneath Kakariko. I highly doubt that's what you were doing."

"You mean you didn't loosen the soil so I would fall down here?"

"No."

"But there's no way that collapse of ground was natural. If not you, then who?" Someone had wanted him to come down here, to meet this Great Fairy.

"Roark, don't you see, it must have been the great God Roark." Her eyes were bright. "He knew what I would do; he wanted me to give you this power, that's why he led you here."

Link shook his head. "I still refuse to believe that."

She smiled. "We shall see."

They studied each other for a few silent seconds, thinking, seeing, knowing.

"You are not the Hero of Time."

"No," Link admitted, the huge pressure on his chest lightening. "No, I'm not. I'm his descendant, from the future. We were switched somehow, and I don't know why."

"Roark must have a reason for you to be here."

Another slight pause.

"Whatever happened to the scientist? Did he discover anything from his research?"

"He went mad before he could derive any actual results, but I cannot be sure if the Eye was the cause, or if it was what he saw with it. The villagers eventually put him to death, annoyed and fearful of his ravings."

A shudder crept up Link's spine. "And now the power that drove a man to insanity is inside me. Brilliant."

"The great hero of the future cannot handle a little truth? Clearly the Goddesses and Roark placed their faith in the wrong man, if you cannot stomach reality."

"Kakariko seems to be a dark place. Will it look even darker now?"

Her mouth twisted in a pitying half-grin. "Hero, you have only seen the tamer horrors thus far."

_"Hero!"_ Came a muffled shout, back from the direction from which he had entered the fountain. Link glanced towards the dark tunnel, then back to the Great Fairy of Time.

"Go. Tell none what you found here."

Link nodded and left, cautiously picking his way back to where the grave had collapsed. More of the soil had been cleared away, so Link could see Sheik and Navi peering down at him.

As soon as Sheik caught sight of him he threw down a length of rope.

"Can you climb with your leg?"

"I'll manage."

So Link climbed up out of the tunnel, and when he got close enough to the surface Sheik grabbed him by the arm, helping him the rest of the way up. His hand lingered a bit, even after Link was standing on solid ground again, before reluctantly releasing him.

"Are you alright? Were you further injured during the fall?" His tone was clinical.

Link could see Sheik's worry and panic though his calm exterior.

"Yes, I'm fine, no injuries to report, _mother_." But his tone was lighthearted this time, lacking its earlier venom. "Thank you for rescuing me."

"You must take better care of yourself. I won't always be around to protect you."

"Alright, alright." Link agreed easily, not wanting to stir up any more trouble. Now that he could actually read the man, it was if Sheik was an entirely different person. That reminded him, there was something he needed to check.

Sheik shot him a look, surprised Link hadn't argued. "Good. Let's get you cleaned up before we head to the Shadow Temple."

"Link! I was so worried! I really didn't want to leave you alone but I had to get help trust me I flew as fast as I could back to the inn but you see Sheik wasn't there in the inn where we left him so I had to ask around but no one really knew where he went so I had to search and—"

As they walked back to the inn, Link lingered slightly back behind Sheik, so he could observe him without bringing attention to his actions, Navi chewing his ear off the entire time.

Link stared. He stared long and hard, until there was no room in his heart or mind for doubt.

Sheik was a man.

* * *

-TBC-

AN: The first person to figure out where I got the name Roark gets a free one shot request, if they want it. Hint hint, it's not related to LoZ at all.


	5. Chapter V

The Bleeding Effect

Chapter V

AN: Sometimes the POV switches back and forth between Midna and Link. I hope it's easy to understand.

* * *

"So, what is the plan?" Link looks to Midna for guidance. "What do I have to do before I can go back to Navi?"

"Oh, is my company _that _terrible?" Midna quips, sardonically.

Link's eyes widen. "Oh no, I didn't mean it like that at all—you're really nice to me but—it's just—"

"Calm down, kid, calm down. It was just a joke."

"Really?"

"Really."

Link laughs a little, sounding strained. He must realize he sounds awful because he soon stops.

"Now, our goal is to reach the Sacred Grove, and enter the Temple of—er, I mean, a building similar to the Temple of Time. When we get there we need to find the mirror shard that I told you about last night. You remember what I'm talking about, right?"

"Yes. The mirror shards that once all found will let us travel to the Twilight Realm, your realm, to defeat Zant." Link recites eagerly. "You've already found one of the shards, and another still rests where it should. This will be the third piece, and there should be one after this one, if it was truly split into fourths, located in the heavens, according to the sages."

"Good, very good. But before we leave, put your gear on." She snaps her fingers. Patches of shadow cut the air, and Link gapes as the Master Sword and an item pouch tumble out.

"Before they brought you to this bedroom upstairs, they took these off of you, and left them on the table. The simpleminded fools," She grumbles the second portion to herself. "Nothing else can touch the Master Sword, but what if some nit swiped the pouch? There are many invaluable weapons in there."

Link buckles the strap across his chest that wraps around to the Master Sword's sheath on his back, and hooks the pouch on his belt.

"I'm ready," He announces, looking at her. "So, what now? Do we have to…talk to those people again?"

"You didn't like them?"

"I can't trust them. I'm not supposed to talk to strangers unless Navi or Sheik say it's okay."

And am I not a stranger? Why do you trust me so implicitly, then? Midna wants to ask, but she fears jeopardizing the small string of trust between them.

"Link?" A third voice calls. Link frowns. The girl. Ilia, was it? "Link, are you awake? I hear noise in there. I'm coming up now."

True to her word, he hears the stairs start to creak under her feet.

Link whips around to Midna. "I can't talk to her. How do we get out of here?"

"Don't worry, I've planned for this. The door is locked from the outside as it is; you would have had to bust it down to get out anyway, which would have undoubtedly attracted attention."

"So how did _you _get downstairs?"

"Unlike you, _I _can use magic. No more questions, there's no time if you want to avoid her." Midna flies over to the window, throws the shutters open wide. She disappears briefly, and returns with a squawking cucco squirming in her arms. A key scratches in the lock.

"Please tell me you know how to fly with one of these things."

Link nods, taking the bird from her.

"Alright. Head towards the fountain. It's impossible to miss. See you later." She disappears into his shadow, but Link does not panic, because she did not say goodbye, she said see you later, she wasn't going to abandon him like—

The door whines on its hinges. No time for this. He bolts for the window, jumps on top of the sill before leaping off of it. He hears shrieks behind him, and he knows that the girl saw him jump. He giggles a little; he feels like he's just pulled off a particularly excellent prank, and is now effectively escaping punishment. Link can swear he hears Midna chuckle as well. He lifts the cucco above him, lets its ludicrously powerful wings gently lower him to the ground. He spots the small body of water Midna bade him go to, and shifts the way he leans to direct the bird towards it.

Link soon touches down, and places the cucco back on solid ground.

"Thanks for the flight," Link laughs. The fowl struts away from him, clucking indignantly.

"Link," Midna murmurs from his shadow. "Do you see that odd patch of grass at your feet? Play it."

"Alright."

He has never seen such grass—it's shaped like a horseshoe!—but he and Saria had all but perfected the art of grass playing long ago, before she even made her first ocarinas and flutes out of clay. He puts the reed to his lips and blows expertly, and is stunned when Epona's favorite song comes whistling out.

Almost immediately he hears a familiar neigh, and is delighted to see none other than his most beloved horse.

"Epona!" He exclaims, drawing close to pet her flank. "You've gotten bigger—for how long was I asleep?" That would explain why his body still felt strange and cumbersome. Maybe he grew even more! If he kept this up every time he had a nap, he might end up as tall as Medigoron! Now _that _would be something, he thinks giddily. He could just squash the evil Ganondorf with his foot!

"Link, hurry, get on the horse before they find us here."

"Okay—er—hold on, just a moment—" He fumbles his pouch open with one hand, while cradling the reed in the other.

"What are you doing?"

Link colors a little. "Well, I just, I really like music. And I've never seen anything like this before."

"Alright, alright, just don't dawdle."

Link carefully places the reed so it won't get crushed by the other objects in his pouch. He recognizes some of the weapons, and others are new and fascinating—he thinks the black wrecking ball would be _enormous _once he got it out of the pouch, and Din only knows how heavy and powerful it was.

His spirit dims a little when he doesn't see either the Ocarina of Time or Saria's ocarina. Even if he doesn't necessarily need them for this quest to obtain the mirror shards, it would have been nice just to have them…

Link mounts Epona, and Midna directs him out of the town, onto a great plain. The hero pulls the mare's reins back, slowing her canter to a trot, to a walk, to a halt.

"What is _that_?" Link points to the golden geometric mass that swallowed—"Is that Hyrule Castle Town? I don't understand. I thought we were still in the future time, and that's why I'm still in my adult body. Shouldn't Ganondorf's castle be over there?"

"Don't worry about that right now. Remember, the Sacred Grove? The mirror shards? We have a mission and we need to get to it."

"But—"

"No, Link. Now dismount your horse, and send her back towards the village. There is something I need to show you."

Link bites his lip, but does not protest further. He gets off of Epona, and sends her on her way with a few words in her ear. He wishes he had a carrot for her. When he turns around Midna stands before him. In her hand is a small black stone with streaks of orange pulsing through it. Link recoils, and buries his nose in his sleeve.

"Ugh, what is that thing? Its magic reeks!"

"Really? Interesting. Well, I assure you that it's perfectly harmless. Well, actually, to be fair, the transformation might hurt a little in the beginning, and by a little I mean a lot, but it's nothing you can't handle, probably…I'm really botching this up, aren't I?"

"Keep that thing away from me." Link retreats further.

Midna frowns. "Now look, Link, if we're going to get to the Sacred Grove quickly—which we must—then you need to touch this stone. It enables you to take the form you would in the Twilight Realm, a wolf."

"A wolf?" Link repeats incredulously. "A beast kin to the wolfos, one of Ganondorf's dark creatures? I don't think so."

"What? No, no, you're getting the wrong idea. Your wolf form is the Sacred Beast. You have no reason to hate it, or fear it. It's who you are."

"I'm not afraid!" Link protests, flushing.

"Really? Could have fooled me, with the way you're practically running away from this conversation."

"I'm not afraid! I'm not running away, I—watch out!"

Link cuts himself off, and tackles Midna to the ground. Not three seconds after, a flaming arrow whizzes over their bodies.

"Moblins! Moblins atop boars!" Link reports, starting to shift off of Midna so he can stand and draw his sword. But as he goes to move, his hand brushes the stone. His gasp of surprise morphs into a snarl as his body morphs, bones snapping and popping and reconnecting, hair thickening, brightening to a glowing gold, tail sprouting and flaring out behind him. It is over in the space of a heartbeat, but to Link it feels like an eternity.

He pants, winded, stunned, his mind like a jumbled ball of string. First he was forced into his strange adult body, and now he needs to come to grips with the fact that he is now in the body of _an entirely different species__**. **_He doesn't have much time to stabilize his mentality, though, because when he looks up he sees two moblins riding a boar, stampeding straight towards them, and something deep inside him _clicks_.

Link gives a belligerent bark before charging towards them. He twists past the boar's chest, and bites the first moblin by the skin of its green, slimy thigh, throwing it roughly to the ground. He doesn't pause to watch the monster bounce and roll to an eventual stop. Instead, he spins back towards the boar and the remaining moblin. It looses another burning arrow.

Link dodges easily, marveling at the sheer power of his third, new body. He leaps atop the huge pig's head, back nails scratching against its eyes. Link can see his golden coat shimmer in the moblin's eyes. The boar squeals, tosses its head, tries to throw him off. When it flings its head backwards, Link releases his grip, moving with the momentum to pounce upon the moblin. He snaps the bow between his jaws. The boar bucks, and Link and the moblin fall.

The wolf lands on top of the other, snarling in its face. The moblin struggles vainly to free itself. Overwhelmingly incensed that the moblin _dares _to try to escape, he tears into its shoulder, reveling in the crunch of bone, the wet warmth of blood oozing between his teeth. The moblin surrenders to the inevitable, exploding in a black ball of smoke. A piece of flesh lingers in the jamb between his teeth and cheek. He spits it out, muzzle damp, dripping.

He turns around to finish the first moblin he had taken down, only to see it and the boar fleeing, nothing but a brown, limping speck in the distance.

His immediate instinct is to pursue it, but he restrains himself, urges his bloodlust to cool. Remember the mission, the goal, the objective. Find the mirror shards. Return to Navi. Find the medallions. Defeat Ganondorf.

Link tries to speak to Midna, but all that comes out is a bark. He shifts his weight. How does he turn back? _Can _he turn back? Or is he trapped in this form forever? And that rage he felt, that sadistic fury…he didn't like it. He didn't like it at all.

"Link." Midna's voice. He feels a sudden weight on his back. She's…riding him? "Since you're already transformed, I'm going to warp us now. It will feel a little strange, but it's perfectly safe, I promise."

She snaps her fingers as she did earlier, and Link feels as if his body is suddenly broken apart before being quickly reassembled again. Instead of the field, he stands amidst crumbling ruins that have been invaded by greenery.

Midna picks through his fur. It tickles. He fidgets.

"Hold still now! Ah, there it is." She pulls the stone away from his body, and his body quickly (slowly) reverses the transformation.

He remains on all fours even after he is human again, for a time, just breathing. Finally, he stands, and has to catch himself as he stumbles. Link touches his face in wonder, the snout shrunk down to a normal nose. He opens his mouth, explores the teeth that now seem dulled in comparison to his wolf ones. His hand comes back stained blue with monster blood. He rubs at his face, trying to remove all traces of the violent act from his skin. His mouth sours and waters, and he doubles over, heaving. After it is over he wipes at his mouth. But his hands are covered in blood and now it is back on his face again. He throws up a second time.

"I don't like this mission. I want to go back. I want to go home." He mumbles, miserable. He sags to his knees.

"Oh, Link." Midna pats him on the shoulder. She wets her thumb and wipes it over his mouth, cleaning the areas he must have missed. When she finishes, she removes his hat, and combs her tiny hands through his hair. Gradually, he begins to relax underneath her ministrations.

"I want to go home, too. But it is a rare and fortunate thing that people can get what they want without some form of toil. I can't go home for good until the mirror is complete again, and Zant destroyed. But I can't do it alone. Zant has deformed my body, and thus has sapped me of the wealth of my magic. You might be first and foremost the Hero of Time but right now I need you to be my Hero of Twilight. I'm sorry that I am putting you through this. It is selfish of me, but I will not withdraw my plea for aid. For if you do not act, it is not just me that will suffer. My people are suffering now under Zant's regime; soon, so will yours. That is why we must act, and fight, and suffer, even though all we want to do is crawl into bed and never come back out again.

And there is no denying that becoming the Sacred Beast, you become a little…feral. Forgive me. I did not hear those moblins approaching, because I was so busy scolding you. I didn't mean for your first transformation to be like that."

"It's…it's fine. You don't need to apologize. I should have just transformed when you told me to the first time, but I'm…I'm not really brave, you know? Monsters frighten me, but I fight them anyway, because I must. But when I attacked those moblins…I felt the rippling movement of muscle beneath my teeth, the pulse of blood. They were so _alive_. It shouldn't matter, it shouldn't. A dead moblin is still a dead moblin, no matter if it's killed by jaws or a sword, right? It shouldn't matter that I can feel their life before I rip it from them. Because…because they're monsters. It shouldn't matter."

He offers her a tremulous smile, leans away from her comforting touch. "I'm alright now. Let's keep going."

"Even if you weigh them differently, a life is still a life. And even if dead is dead, different methods of killing will naturally affect you differently, both physically and mentally. It is to be expected. If you don't like the form of the golden wolf, we'll try not to use it as much as possible. You will need to become it sometimes, when the situation calls for it, such as for quick transportation, but that is all. And as soon as it's not needed, I will change you back immediately, alright?" Privately, Midna is still reeling from the fact that this Link transformed into the golden wolf, not the gray-black one that the other Link was, though they both had the same human body. The Sacred Beast's form must reflect the soul, then. Does this confirm Link's speculations that the golden wolf who instructed him in the way of the sword was in fact the Hero of Time?

"Alright," Link nods, grateful.

"We should be pressing on now." She floats towards the partly crumbled staircase. "The entrance is up here. Watch your step."

Link slowly picks his way up the steps, Midna by his side just like Navi had been (dearFarorewhatifMidnaleavestoohecan't).

Once he reaches the top, she points towards a rusty set of double doors.

"Through there."

"Can the doorknobs even _turn_?" He asks, dubious.

"Don't start."

Link grabs both knobs, turning them in tandem, opening the set of double doors wide. He peers forwards.

"Is that the Temple of Time? I mean, it seems that the altar and the stones are gone, but other than that, it looks exactly the same…"

"I told you earlier, we're going to a place quite similar to the Temple of Time. This place is a…sister temple," Midna lies. "It shares similarities, but they are far from one and the same."

"Oh, alright," Link thinks no further on it, does not doubt her. "This temple looks a little…off."

"That's because the doorway acts as a type of transportation magic. Just step through. You'll see."

Link obeys, stepping into the temple. His world brightens, but only for a moment. The intense light soon fades, and he opens his eyes. He strolls through the first room, and makes his way towards the empty pedestal in the second.

Midna hovers behind him, waiting for some sign of the Hero of Time turning back into the Hero of Twilight, with no success. He's not stumbling or fainting like her Link had. Indeed, the boy did not even seem to have the same difficulties crossing through the time barrier that his descendant had had. Perhaps time travel did not bother him? His title wasn't just for show, then.

"What am I supposed to do?" Link scuffs his boots, stares up at the many stained glass windows. "Should the mirror shard be here in this room somewhere?"

"Why not sheath your blade in the pedestal?" Midna suggests. "It doesn't appear that there is anything else to do here."

"Are you sure? I'll return to my normal body if I do that."

Midna looks at him strangely. His normal body? How would he know that he's in his descendant's—oh, right, he meant the body of a child. Until she had met Link all those months ago, Midna had not known much about Hylian history or culture. She had known the very basics, the essentials. She was aware of the events that led to her people's banishment, the tale of Demise and the goddess Hylia, the myths of the three goddesses and the Sacred Realm. But that was all she knew, or rather, bothered to know. Until Zant, she had had no reason to bother with the Light Realm. Link filled her in on just about everything else he knew, during the seemingly endless stretches of their quest when there were no enemies around and nothing but land for miles. At one point he had touched on the Hero of Time, but his description had been rather scant, despite the man being his grandfather. And that discussion was so long ago, early on in their time together, and she has forgotten most of what he told her. The boy had been what—nine, ten years of age when he set out on his journey to stop Ganondorf? His skittishness, his mercurial nature makes a lot more sense now. But then what happened to him? Ah, right, right, the sages placed him in a deep sleep until he was physically older, stronger, more suitable a hero to topple the dark king. Physically changed, but still mentally underdeveloped. What were the damned sages thinking? Despite his appearance, he's still a little kid. Midna must remember this.

"Uh, Midna?" Link prompts.

"Sorry, sorry. I was just thinking. Sheath your sword, Link. Whatever happens, happens."

Link artfully replaces the sword in the pedestal, with a practiced ease. He shuts his eyes, and waits for the familiar blue light to envelop him. Nothing happens. He opens his eyes. A bluish staircase of light has appeared before him.

"I'm still big," Link marvels, flexing his hands. "I'm still adult me, even though the sword is sheathed!"

"I told you this was not the Temple of Time. The same rules do not apply."

He lifts the sword out—the steps do not fade. Thank Nayru. He touches the first stair with the toe of his boot. They seem solid enough. He climbs them, and they lead him to one of the windows. He reaches out to touch the glass, and it vanishes before his hand.

"An illusion?"

"I suppose so."

"Alright," He chirps, running through the previously hidden archway. "Let's go get that mirror shard."

* * *

"This place is enormous! This one room is bigger than the entire Temple of Time."

Link wanders around, thoughtfully peering at the giant bell in the room's center, eyes mapping out the layout of the area, the currently unreachable stairways. He tries the single door that he can reach; it doesn't budge.

"Link, don't you think there's something odd about that statue?"

The hero steps back a little from the door to get a larger view. "There's a statue on the left, but not one on the right." He observes.

"In the grove and in the temple entry, there were always matching ones on each side, but there's only one here…"

"Thus, if we want this door to open, we need to find the other statue and bring it here. Naturally, the mirror shard is most likely behind this door."

Midna considers requesting for Link to transform into his wolf form, so he can use his senses to verify their theory. But she recalls her promise, and holds her tongue. They're more likely than not right about the statue. There's no use worrying about it.

"The question is," Link continues, "if we do find it, how by Din will I be able to lift it? But let's save that for when we find it. First, we need to reach the staircases."

He spots a nearby floor switch, and gently rolls a heavy pot on top of it. A ledge slides up from the floor, and Link grins. Perfect, now he will have just enough height to reach them. He loves the temples and dungeons. At times they can pose a challenge, but he always discovers the correct answer in the end. They're inevitably straightforward and simple to understand, unlike people.

"Link, you can handle this from here, right? I'm going to return to your shadow; see you later."

Link starts, a thought occurring to him. "Does it hurt you? The light, I mean."

Midna replies from within his shadow, voice distant and sentences feathered at the ends. "I wouldn't say that it hurts me, not in small doses. It never causes me overt pain, unless I'm exposed to a lot of light in a very short amount of time. But it does weaken me if I linger too long, though. I am a being who belongs in the Twilight Realm, in the end. I could not exist here forever, even if I took refuge in your shadows the entire time, just as you could never live in my realm for the rest of your life. Your body and soul would weep for the lack of light. You might even be driven mad, as some of my ancestors were."

"Well, after this is all over, we could still visit each other, right? We just wouldn't be able to stay terribly long." Link asks sprightly, climbing the steps.

As he pulls out a key from a once invisible chest, she answers. "I suppose such a thing would be possible." There's no point in her mentioning what she plans to do with the mirror after Zant's defeat, in snipping away the boy's hopes before they have a chance to bloom. He might try to stop her, if he knew. Her hero certainly would.

"Erm! Not so fast!" Link stumbles to a stop, nearly tripping over his own feet to prevent himself from stepping on the tiny creatures.

"What in Nayru's name are you?"

"At last, this is it! This is where I've been trying to get to!" Link gapes at the small, bird-like things. Midna releases a relieved sigh when Ooccoo doesn't seem to hear Link's question and chatters over him. Hopefully, he'll be too dumbfounded to ask again, and no discrepancies will emerge…

"The ancient technology of our people sleeps in this place. We've searched all over…and now we're so close, I can _smell _it! Once we find that thing, we can go home at last! Oh, gracious, yes! Erm, young man!"

"…Yes?" Link hedges.

"We're so close…so _please _help us find what we're looking for."

"A-alright."

Without further ado the bigger creature scales his leg and worms its way into his pouch, the fluttering ball following after. Link stares down at the pouch, poking at it tentatively with the key.

"Midna…what _are_ those things?"

"Ooccoo and her son, Ooccoo Junior. I am just as much in the dark as you are concerning their species. But what's important is that they posses some form of teleportation magic. If you need to escape a room quickly, just pull them out of your item pouch, and they'll handle the rest."

Link nods, storing the information away for later use. He unlocks the door, and the sight that greets him makes him swallow hard. A young gohma. He's upon it at once, stabbing at it with no pattern or form to his attacks, savagely, until the monster curls up and explodes in a puff of smoke.

"Not a fan of spiders?"

Link shudders, cleaning his blade with the hem of his tunic. "I've never liked them. They have always unsettled me. Their queen killed the Great Deku Tree, made him rot from the inside out. He was like a father to me."

"I'm sorry."

Link shakes his head. "No, it's fine. I just hope we don't run into any more of them."

* * *

Hours later, they reach the eighth and final floor. Link is weary, his mind exhausted and overtaxed, (even the Water Temple, perplexing as it was, had only three floors, a far cry from eight) his tunic spattered with gore from many, many gohmas, the various patches in different stages of drying. His muscles ache, and his body trembles. But at last, he is here.

And if the statue's not behind this door Nayru knows what he'll do.

Link enters the room. A grate slides shut behind him, locking him in. Uneasily, he looks around. The stature he's been searching for all this time is right there, across the room.

And in the center, a darknut turns at his arrival.

Link draws the Master Sword.

* * *

-TBC-

AN: I thought it would be too boring for you and me both to walk Link through the entire temple, so I'm only covering the important bits.


	6. Chapter VI

The Bleeding Effect

Chapter VI

AN: There are a couple of notes for this chapter! Firstly, I apologize for the delay in getting this chapter out. Secondly, you might want to do some research before you read this chapter to better understand some of the references. Please don't get a dead hand confused with a wall/floor master. They are two different beasts. Also, look up the Hyrulean Civil War if you don't know what that is. The whip that Sheik uses is the whip from Spirit Tracks, and the needle attack he uses is lifted from the Smash Bros. games.

Thirdly, at this point I'm debating on whether or not to make this TP!Link/Sheik or not. Let me know what you guys think.

* * *

"No, no, no, you're doing it all wrong." Sheik snapped, his patience horribly frayed. They had been at this for half an hour already.

"I'm trying, I'm trying! I guess I'm just not that…musically inclined anymore."

"It's not as if I'm asking you to compose a ten hour symphony! It's just seven simple notes! And half of them are repeated!"

Link shrugged sheepishly.

"Look." Sheik set his harp on the ground before walking behind the other. He grabbed Link's hands, and directed them where to block the holes to produce the notes. Link's face warmed a bit at the contact. Sheik's hands were quite slender when compared to his, just shy of effeminate. He could see why his ancestor might have doubted Sheik's gender. "See? It's really quite simple. Now all you need to do is blow air into the top as you play those same notes again. You'll be encased by a transportation magic. At that point you can either dismiss the magic, or allow it to transport you to the entrance of the Shadow Temple." Sheik released him then, giving Link some room. "Now, try again."

Link didn't have any issue with blowing air through the ocarina—he had had plenty of experiences with playing reeds to call Epona and birds. But it was the grass itself that took care of the actual musical aspect of it; the Hylian had no experience actually playing an instrument. He'd never had the need, before now. As he played, he knew he got the first three notes right—he wasn't tone deaf, just not a musician—but then the nocturne jumbled as he placed his fingers incorrectly, and the half-summoned magic was lost.

"Oh for the love of—fine. We'll just have to do it together, alright?" After retrieving his harp and placing it back in his pouch, Sheik stood behind him again, and pushed the Ocarina of Time to Link's lips. "Begin."

And so Link and Sheik performed the Nocturne of Shadow together, Link blowing air through the instrument, Sheik manipulating Link's fingers to play the correct notes. It was a bit awkward, but they got through it, and soon enough the song ended, and the magic encased the trio. To Link, it felt similar to the magic the Great Fairy of Truth had used to direct him towards her before, but much less forceful; he felt as if a hand was being extended, offering to lead him elsewhere if he so chose. Link accepted the magic's request, and a purple light engulfed them for a few moments. When the light receded, they were standing on an outcrop that overlooked Kakariko Graveyard.

"Let's go." Sheik immediately turned from the sight of the graves and descended to the entrance of the temple. Link followed after him. Below they found a pedestal, surrounded by unlit torches, and a sealed door.

"Use Din's Fire to light the torches so we may progress."

"Yes, that's what I had planned to do."

"Well get to it then."

"Would you stop already?" Link was starting to grow annoyed. "What's your hurry? I mean, I understand that we must gather the medallions and defeat Ganondorf, but you've been especially over anxious after we left the inn this morning."

"Just light the torches."

"Sheik," Link groaned. "Don't start this. I don't want to fight you, I just want to understand you." He started rummaging around for the aforementioned item. Thankfully, the night before, Sheik had explained what all of the items in his pouch were that he did not recognize, and ways he might apply them in the ensuing temples.

Sheik relented. "Impa, one of the six sages, was the one who initially sealed that malicious spirit in the bottom of the well. Impa went ahead of us through the Shadow Temple to seal it up again, but…she will be in danger without our help."

Link called the fire to his aid, and it lit up the torches in an instant. The door to the Shadow Temple creaked open, and they walked past it.

"What is Impa to you?"

"She is…the leader of the Sheikah. _My_ leader."

"You care about her." It wasn't a question.

"She is my leader." Sheik refused to elaborate any further, and Link let it go. He understood well enough what the man was trying to say, regardless.

"We will find her," Link assured him. "And then together we will all defeat that vile monster."

Sheik made a soft noise of agreement, and his body seemed to relax a little. Link stared ahead of him. The hallway before him was absent; instead of a floor, a dark abyss awaited his next steps. A hookshot target was fastened just below the edge of the floor; Link would have to be very careful when he made the jump. At the other end of the hallway, the face of a skeleton leered at him.

"What is that thing?" Link pointed towards the skull.

"One of the many lingering spirits in this place. This particular one seems to be here to enjoy the show of our attempt to cross the chasm. Don't concern yourself with it, hero; it cannot harm you, not anymore."

"You _can _call me Link, you know," He said as he pulled out the longshot. He glanced at the item in his hand. "Heh. Though getting you to change your mind would be quite the _longshot_."

Sheik did not comment on Link's awful wisecrack, instead dashing forwards and leaping across the deep expanse. Link stared at the Sheikah's outstretched form as he drifted through the air. Did he have a hookshot of his own? A rope? Anything? What if he didn't make the jump?

Link's alarm was short-lived—Sheik twisted in midair, a strange snakelike whip striking out and catching on the wall past the chasm. He pulled himself to said wall, feet touching solid ground again. After his rather graceful landing, Sheik coiled the whip, and gently unhooked the fangs from the stone. He then beckoned Link over.

Link aimed the longshot and fired; the end sunk into the target, and Link allowed the chain to retract, pulling him forwards. As he neared the ledge he flung one arm up to grip the floor, the other dislodging the longshot. Sheik grasped him by the arm, hauling him the rest of the way up.

Link thanked the other as he dusted himself off. He glanced over at where Sheik had pulled the whip out of the wall. Two puncture marks were still embedded in the rock.

"Do you know of the Mirror Shield, hero?"

Link did know a little about it; his ancestor used its enormous reflective powers to defeat the wretched Twinrova. But he couldn't really tell Sheik that. He was perplexed as to why Sheik asked about it, as well.

"No, I'm afraid I don't."

"The Mirror Shield was forged by the Gerudo Tribe many, many decades before our time; its luster cannot be dulled by the passage of time, however. And it is said that its surface reflects not only light, but hostile intent as well. This whip—" Here he held up the brilliantly orange weapon. "—was created by the same smith. The fangs are made of the same powerful metal used in the shield."

Link drew closer, arm outstretched, and Sheik recoiled instantly.

"Do not touch them!" His command was sharp. Link blinked in hurt, but did lower his hand and step away. Sheik took a short breath to compose himself. "Forgive my abruptness. The fangs are the sharpest blades ever created, small though they may be. A simple touch would cut you quite deeply."

"It's alright, I understand."

Sheik stashed the item away. "But enough history lessons. Let us continue."

They approached the skeleton. It grinned at them, its skull propped up by its hands. Now that they were closer, Link could see that its image was transparent, and that a room lay beyond it. To Link's surprise, it then began to speak.

"It has been quite a time since anyone has graced these hallowed halls." Its voice seemed strained and hoarse, but threads of amusement were interwoven in as well. "I might as well warn you before you progress too much further. The Shadow will yield only to one who possesses the eye of truth, handed down in Kakariko Village."

"Alright, thanks for the help." Link mumbled, as he awkwardly shuffled through the image and into the next room. The precise moment he passed through the spirit felt similar to when the smoke monster had engulfed him the day before, but it was too brief to be of any great concern.

Then Sheik was in front of him, gripping him firmly by the shoulders.

"Stop it, you're hurting m—"

"How did you know the wall was false?"

"W-what?"

"How did you know the wall was false?" Sheik reiterated slowly. He narrowed his eyes, and Link swallowed hard; it was the same suspicious glare from that morning.

"Couldn't you see that it was translucent once we approached it?" Link was genuinely confused.

"Of course I could—all belonging to the Sheikah tribe are gifted with red eyes that can see the truth. But enough deflection. How could you see through it?"

"Sweet Farore, I don't _know_, Sheik, I just…" His denial trailed off as he came to a realization. Of course, the Great Fairy's gift! But how to explain… "Look, it doesn't really matter _why_ I can see through the illusions, just that I _can_. Now, can we please press on? I thought you wanted to assist Impa as soon as possible."

Sweat trickled down Link's back as Sheik assessed him. Finally, the slighter man huffed, crossing his arms over his chest. "This discussion isn't over, merely postponed."

"Yeah yeah," Link waved away the warning with an easy smile, but hidden in his chest his heart pounded painfully. The hero turned away from Sheik's smoldering gaze, looking around the second room. A stature of a raven was built in the center, and the pillars circling it were topped with skulls. _Real_ skulls. Link grimaced as he walked over to them.

"Sheik, why does this place exist?"

"That's irrelevant."

Damn. Just as Sheik had been starting to open up a little, he shoved all the walls right back up the second his trust in Link wavered. Link wouldn't let it get to him. He'd find out the truth of this gristly place by himself, if he had to.

Past the statue and its surrounding skulls was a second chasm; but unlike the previous one, there was no hookshot target this time; just a faraway ledge shaped like a tongue. Charming. Regardless, he couldn't hope to jump such a distance. Link turned from the sight, and started scanning all the smiling skeletons around the walls. One of the images seemed thinner than the others; as he approached it, the image dissolved, just as the other had, revealing a small corridor and an iron door. Link walked through the door, Sheik at his back. Whether he was there to guard Link or scrutinize him, the Hero of Twilight did not know.

Another fake wall greeted him on the other side of the door, but a different spirit now stared him down. Link met its unholy, glowing eyes unflinchingly.

"One who gains the eye of truth will be able to see what is hidden in the darkness." It peered closer at Link and Sheik, then let loose a cackle. "Ah, I see my information will serve useless here. Already you have been cursed with this power."

"Cursed, not blessed?" Link questioned.

"Ignorance is bliss, yes? Would that you never set eyes upon this place. It's already too late for you."

Link strode through the spirit, then stopped short. The room was fraught with displaces souls. Some whispered, some screamed, and some just stared. The hero slowly searched the room for the next door. Amidst the clamor of noise he heard several snatches of words, each speaker uttering something more horrifying and miserable than the one before it.

"Not me arms, not me arms, please don', not me arms," One whimpered, a boy's voice.

"—don't know where the Sacred Realm is, I s-swear, I _swear_, I—" The hysterics were broken off by shrieks.

"Water need, water need," a woman's voice sobbed in broken Hylian. "Please, I Zora, water need, water _need_!"

Unease twisted in Link's gut as the voices filled his head.

"This is…this is…" Link's mind churned, leafing through the history pages of his memory. "This is a torture chamber, used during the Hyrulean Civil War." He turned to Sheik horror. "This is…this is where _Hylians _tortured people."

"Did you think Hyrule any different from any other land? Any purer?"

"But…" Link floundered. "The Goddesses…"

"The Goddesses created all living creatures. No one species is hailed as superior to any of the others, because all beings fall into the same vices. Every race involved in the Hyrulean Civil War is responsible for uncountable acts of cruelty, including the Hylians."

Link removed his cap, jerking a hand through his hair. This was too much, too fast.

"Shadow Temple…" A nearby ghost hissed. "Here is gathered Hyrule's bloody history of greed and hatred…"

At long last, Link spotted a translucent wall. With relief he walked through it and the following door, and prayed that the next room might be free of the undead. He was not so fortunate.

A solitary redead was crouched in a ball, moaning piteously. The door slammed behind Sheik and the monster jerked up, the sagging rot of its face contorting with rage as its eyes found them. It struggled to rise, sputtering: "Fools! Fools fools fools fools _fools_!"

The vehemence of this particular redead made Link pause in his attack.

"Navi, have these things ever _talked _before?"

"Not that I know of. All the others only scream."

Link watched as it ranted, jaw clacking so hard with fury, he was surprised it didn't break off.

"The magic of my compatriots cannot be defeated! The Fused Shadow will split the Sacred Realm wide open for us, and once we get our hands on the Triforce, oh, you will be sorry, yes, you will all be sorry—"

Link lopped the thing's head off before it could continue further, having heard enough. A Dark Interloper. Link just vanquished the lingering remains of one of Midna's ancestors. Gingerly stepping over the fading corpse, the hero searched further in the room. Skulls of various sizes and states were stacked in piles around the edges of the room: together they totaled an unfathomable number, and this was but one room. There was no telling what the others housed. He would soon find out; the thought drew a shudder from him. Quite soon he had to cover his nose with the sleeve of his arm to shield his sense of smell from the stench of rot and decay. His eyes watered.

At last Link spied a small roll of paper. He pawed through some of the skulls to snatch it up. The old paper crackled as he unfurled it.

"I've found a map." The hero announced, after he did a quick scan of the document.

Sheik nodded in approval, then opened the door to the room. They exited, and were back in the corridors of the shrieking, screaming spirits.

"Is there anything we can do for them?"

Sheik shook his head in denial, so Link did his utmost to ignore the cries and pleas of the ghouls, though each new sound was a dagger to his heart.

"…bloody greed, hatred…"

"Turn back…"

"—no idea pleasepleasepleaseplease I have no idea where it is, I don't, I don't I don't—"

"What is hidden in the darkness…Tricks full of ill will…you can't see the way forward…"

The tone of the spirits changed the deeper they went. Before, they had simply bemoaned their own sufferings. Now more and more of them seemed to be watching Link and his companions as the group trekked through the halls, and tried to deter them from continuing onwards any further with ominous words. Well, Link thought, it was going to take a lot more than creepy stares and empty words to deter him from his ancestor's quest.

Some nearby pots quivered, and shot up towards Link's face.

"Watch out!" Shouted Navi. There wasn't anywhere near enough time to pull out the Master Sword. Link drew his arms up to protect his head, eyes shut, bracing for the impact.

The pain never came, and instead Link heard the crash of pottery on the floor. Link looked up to see Sheik in front of him, several long needles in his hand. The Sheikah then collected the two needles he had used to stop the pots.

"Thank you, Sheik. You saved me from quite the headache." Link joked. The other man simply grunted, and Link slumped a little; Sheik was still wary of him, then.

When they reached the next door, Link startled as the Sheikah visibly tensed.

"What is it? What's wrong?"

"Prepare yourself. I sense something ancient and powerful behind that door."

Link drew his sword and shield before slowly opening the door. It made a loud complaining noise on its hinges. There was nothing inside but a bunch of bones and skulls, quite similar to the room with the redead. Nevertheless, he was cautious. He squinted at the walls and the ceiling, searching for any hidden beasts, or illusive traps. Seeing none, Link stepped fully into the room, Sheik protecting his back. When the door shut, and iron grate slid barred it, and then everything happened at once.

Huge hands burst forth from the ground. One of them grasped Link's ankle in a bruising grip, yanking him up into the air before slamming him back down to the ground. He gasped, the wind knocked out of him, back aflame, and the Master Sword tumbled from his nerveless grip. Once he released the Blade of Evil's Bane, the monster dragged him across the grimy floor, out of reach of the sword. The thing was cunning; it knew it couldn't touch the sacred weapon itself, so it forced Link to let it go.

The hands reached for Sheik as well, but he was too quick for them; however, his attacks with his needles dealt an insignificant amount of damage, and he found himself constantly on the defensive against the multitude of grasping hands.

Navi's voice cut through the noise of Link's throbbing heart. "You need to escape from its hold, Link! Hurry, before it's too late! Before the dead hand emerges!" The brave fairy fluttered by some of the hands, trying to draw some attention away from him. Link felt a spasm of panic for her, but it was needless; the hands didn't acknowledge the fairy. They were more intent on pinning down the meat. Link shook and writhed, but it seemed the more he struggled, the more hands clung to him, pushed him to the floor. Their frozen nails bit through the fabric of his clothes.

"Sheik!" Link cried, and twisted his head around to search for him. The Sheikah was trapped in a corner of the room, batting away five of the hands. There would be no help from him, not for a while. The Master Sword still laid several feet away, useless. Even if Link could manage to extricate his arm to strain towards it, he wouldn't be able to reach it.

Then came a rumbling from the ground, and earth was torn open like an old scab. The monster that emerged from the dirt was enormous, its pale skin ribboned with reddish brown flakes. Red blood, not green or blue—the blood was from its multitude of previous victims, not itself.

At the beast's emergence, the hands trapping Link slackened slightly, as if confident that he was too frightened to do anything but remain paralyzed in fear. They were wrong. The second the hero felt their grips slacken, he threw all the force he had into rolling on his side, wrenching his arm and leg free. Once he was halfway free, it was much easier to escape completely. Link leaped up, shaking the remaining hands off. He couldn't stop moving, he couldn't stop, because if he did, they would pin him again, and all would be lost.

Link sprinted, arms pumping, to his sword. He felt a rush of air behind him, and he knew one of them was reaching for his neck; the hero rolled to avoid the attack, and snatched up the Master Sword as well. The blade hummed in his grip, and Link could swear the sword itself was happy to be in his hands again.

One of the appendages dared to attack Link once he was equipped; a single horizontal slash felled the creature. The other hands drew back, now wary. It would be difficult to separate the man and his weapon a second time.

Instead, the large fleshy mass lumbered towards Link. Its head lolled down to face him, and it roared in his face. The reek nearly sent him into a fit of puking, and it took all the willpower Link had to swallow down the urge.

With a battle cry, Link executed the moves that his ancestor had taught him. He bashed the dead hand in the face with a Shield Attack, and as the monster reeled from the blow, Link jumped up and executed the Helm Splitter. The Master Sword cleaved the dead hand's head in two, and dragged down past the split skull, tearing down the ridges of its yellowed spine.

Link recovered his bearings and stance after the double attack was concluded. The dead hand sagged sideways with a moan, its entrails and broken spinal column spewing onto the floor. Then Link could hold himself back no longer. He doubled over and heaved, his sick adding to the already terrible sights and stenches of the room. The other hands must have perished when the dead hand did, because nothing attacked him as his half-digested breakfast spilled onto the floor.

Then something touched him, and Link startled like a cat; but it was just Sheik, gripping him forcefully by the upper arm and all but hauling him out of the room. Neither of them spoke as Sheik guided Link back through the ghost-filled corridors, all the way back to the room with the raven statue.

"Put these on." Sheik shoved a pair of ratty old boots into Link's arms before releasing his grip and stalking a few paces away.

Link inspected the boots, rubbing away at the filth on them. They were similar to his normal boots, but this pair was covered in some sort of metal, and two wings jutted out of the heels.

"These are the Hover Boots," informed Navi. "With these mysterious boots, you can hover above the ground. You can even use these to walk across thin air! The downside? No traction!"

After thanking Navi for her input, Link pulled on the Hover Boots, placing his other pair in his item pouch. Then he stood, and set to figuring out the next puzzle.

Sheik would not look at him.

The sour taste of bile still lingered in his mouth.

* * *

They walked in silence for an hour or so. The quiet was maddening to Link in such a terrible place. He would try to start conversations, only for Sheik to shut him down with a clipped word or two, and frankly, Link has had enough of it.

"Alright, this has gone on long enough," Link snapped. Sheik, who had been several paces ahead, stopped and sighed.

"What is it _now_?"

"You, Sheik. You! What is your problem?"

"Do you not comprehend what being a hero means?" His red eyes blazed as he stared Link down. Link glared back, not going to be cowed. "It means that until your mission is completed, all of your personal emotions are put to the wayside. They do not matter."

A short, mirthless laugh ripped itself from Link. "Are you mad? Of course they matter. You can't just shut off how you feel about things because Hyrule needs saving. To shut off all emotion makes you less than a person, less than an animal even." He steps closer to Sheik. "But this is a distraction. I ask again: what is your problem? Is it because I can see through the illusions? Is that it? Because honestly, I—"

Sheik's eyes widened. "Look out!"

Link turned behind to see and was met with darkness.

* * *

-TBC-


	7. Chapter VII

The Bleeding Effect

Chapter VII

* * *

Link approaches the darknut slowly, tightening his grip on the Master Sword. He must crane his neck to stare up at its faceless black helmet.

"Be careful," Midna cautions. "I have no idea what to do against these knight things! Just try using the sword techniques you know, Link!"

The silver blade of his weapon wavers slightly in the air. Link takes a long breath to center himself. Without further ado the darknut charges, sword arching downward to cleave his head in two. Link parries, but staggers a few steps, the sheer power of the monster's attack jarring him. Before he has firmly regained his footing, the darknut swings at him again. Link jumps to the right, feels a rush of air on his left, the darknut's sword embedding itself mere inches from where he stands. Link thrusts the Master Sword toward the monster, only to be ferociously blocked by the darknut's shield. He tries again and again with the same technique, and is always rebuffed. The first block was no fluke; the darknut's defenses are impenetrable from the front. But what about its back?

Link attempts to dart around his foe, but the other warrior is too sly to permit him such an edge. The darknut slashes horizontally, and Link automatically folds into a roll, lest his head be lopped off. He rises, breaths coming in gasps as he is forced to immediately defend against another barrage. Link has never fought an enemy so remarkably relentless. Sweat trickles from the nape of his neck, down the back of his mail. Panic buds in his chest as the fight continues to drag on. He's been worn down from the seven rooms that preceded this one, both physically and mentally. The gohmas that infest the temple make his insides squirm, each stringy web, each skittering sound a piercing reminder of his inability to save the Great Deku Tree from their queen. The darknut, on the contrary, is well rested, its mind as sound as servant of darkness' mind can be. Yet another of Link's attacks glances off of the darknut's shield. Link executes a few spin attacks, but they only serve to make his head swim, the darknut effortlessly deflecting each one.

"Is that all you have to offer, boy?" The darknut taunts, its voice deep and dark beneath its visor.

Link lashes out again and again, each failed strike clanging harmlessly off of the monster's shield and armor.

"You disappoint me."

The darknut surges forward, bashing its shield against Link's. The hero is knocked to the floor, all the air in his lungs wrenched away with one pained gasp. Stunned, Link cannot stop the monster from kicking away the Master Sword. The blade skids across the stone and comes to a rest too far for Link to even hope to reach. The hero draws his shield to his chest in a feeble defense. A large hand reaches down and jerks the Hylian shield from his arm, tossing it to the side. Link can do nothing to stop the heavy boot from crunching down onto his shoulder. His cry intermingles with the darknut's laugh. Suddenly, a small hand paws at his pouch—Midna? What is she—and then the darknut draws back its sword in preparation for the final blow. Link tries to twist away, but the monster's foot pins him to the floor. Link claws uselessly at the boot as the sword falls and—

He's abruptly back in the first room of the temple. Link lies on the floor, still breathing hard, both from exertion and the rush of fear from when the darknut's weapon was making its descent. Tears sting at the corners of his eyes. He scrubs them away. When he drops his hands, Midna is hovering above him, fuming.

"What was _that_?" She spits, and Link cuts his eyes away from hers as he slowly props himself up into a sitting position. His right arm—his shield arm—throbs, burns. He prods at it warily, praying that it's only bruised, at most. "Hey, I'm talking to you here!"

Ooccoo Jr. surreptitiously tucks himself back into Link's pouch, having no desire to get in the middle of their spat.

"I'm sorry."

"Sorry doesn't cut it. Answer my question. What kind of swordplay was that?"

"I was trying my best!" Link protests.

"_That_ was your best? Don't you know any more types of moves? Can't you do anything besides a thrust, slash, or spin attack? What about a helm splitter? Ending blow? Shield attack? Back splice?"

Link shakes his head, crestfallen. "I've never even heard of any of those moves, let alone know how to execute them."

"What? But you're the one who—" She falls silent. She cannot exactly say that an older version of him was the one to teach all these skills and more to her Link.

Link regards her suspiciously. "I'm the one who what?"

"It's nothing! Drop it, Link!" She snaps, but feels instantly guilty as Link shrinks away from her. "Would you stop that already?"

"I'm sorry."

"And stop apologizing!"

"I'm sorry!" Link bites his lip. "I-I mean, I'm sorry I said—" He groans in exasperation with himself.

"Why do you feel the need to constantly apologize?"

"I, well, you know…"

"No, I don't know. You see, when someone asks a question, chances are, it's because they do not know the answer."

Link shifts his weight. He takes off his cap; the exposed blonde hair is mussed and damp with sweat. He fiddles with the hat for a time. Midna is just about to demand an answer from him again when the boy finally speaks.

"I'm…scared."

Midna waits a few beats for Link to elaborate, but when no further explanation is forthcoming, she is eventually forced to urge him on.

"What are you afraid of?"

Link's thumbs rub against the seams of the green material rhythmically, repeatedly. A crutch for his emotions, Midna realizes. Like a stressed child with a stuffed toy.

"Link," She urges. "You can trust me. You know that, right? We're friends."

Link clenches the cloth hard, his fists starting to shake a little. He bows his head, bangs obscuring his face.

"They all say that. They all do. The Great Deku Tree. Saria. Sheik. Navi. They say they're my friends, that they'll always be with me, by my side, no matter what. But where are they now?" Link sniffles. He rubs at his cheeks, which are enflamed with embarrassment. Midna places a tiny hand on his shoulder, and Link melts into the touch.

"I don't want you to get mad at me, so I apologize, but apologies make you madder, but I don't know what to do. I don't want you to leave too."

"Link, no, no. I'm not mad at you."

"But…I lost the duel. I would have been slain if not for you and the ooccas. I don't know enough. I'm not good enough to be the hero, I'm sorry, I—"

"Stop it! I was short with you not because I was mad with you, but because I was _worried_ about you. I miscalculated the darknut's strength; I expected it to be a challenge, yes, but nothing so life-threatening. Seeing you so close to death scared me. That's what I'm afraid of. Losing you. So don't you see? You don't need to be frightened of driving me away, because I'm frightened of losing you."

Link turns away from her. "You're just saying this because you need me to find the mirror shards."

Midna flies in front of him. She tugs his face up to meet her eyes. "Why is this so hard for you to understand? I value you, Link. Yes, for your skills on the battlefield." Link's glance falls away, but Midna pushes on. "But I also care for you because you are my _friend_. You're not just a hero, you're a person, a person I enjoy spending my time with. There's no one I'd rather be with on this quest, even if they knew better sword techniques. Trust me, Link."

At last, Link nods. The imp's hands slide from his face.

"I trust you." Link meets her eyes. "I trust you, Midna."

He rises, brushing off his tunic. He grimaces at the futility of it; the green fabric is splotched with bloodstains and grime.

"It was foolish of us to attack the darknut without forethought." Midna admits. "There's a fine line between courage and stupidity, and we crossed it. Before we go back down there and reclaim your sword and shield, we're going to need a plan."

Link lifts Ooccoo Jr. from his pouch. The small oocca flutters around them, happy now that the arguing has finished. "I've got one. And I'm going to need your help to do it, friend." He smiles at her.

* * *

Link breaths deeply. He stands just outside the darknut's arena, staring at the metal work of the door. He knows that the monster waiting for him retracted the grate that sealed the room shut. Nothing is stopping him from entering the room now, except himself. Midna is by his side. He can do this.

Squaring his shoulders, Link enters the room. The darknut has returned to its position in the middle of the room in his absence. Off on the side, Link's blade and shield remain scattered about on the floor. The impure being could not touch the blade, and what use had it for a second shield?

The darknut raises its sword and shield, readying for an attack.

"You're more stupid than I believed you to be, boy. Not even two hours have passed after your first defeat at my hand, and you've already come crawling back for another thrashing. Are you that eager to meet your fate? Or, perhaps," Its dark voice drips with disdain. "will you show your cowardly nature again, and run away before the final blow can be dealt?"

"I'm not running away. Not anymore. Midna, _now_!"

The princess presses the shadow crystal against Link's neck, and the transformation is almost instantaneous this time, to his relief. Perhaps his body just needed to acclimate to the idea of shifting.

The darknut lowers its sword ever so slightly, bemused at the sight of the wolf before it. Link seizes this chance. With a tremendous burst of speed from his hind legs, he is upon the darknut before it can register anything more than a golden blur. Link's teeth shred the leather fasteners connecting the armor covering the darknut's shoulder to the armor protecting its torso as if they were poorly spun bed sheets. The armor clangs to the floor as Link retreats a few paces. The darknut claps the hand holding its shield to his now-exposed shoulder. It reforms its attacking stance with renewed vigor, and charges towards Link with a battle cry. As it nears the wolf, the darknut hauls its massive blade behind its back in preparation for a swing.

At this time, Midna, who had up until this point clung rather unobtrusively to Link's back, springs into action. Her orange hair forms into a gigantic glowing hand. It shoots forwards, fingers burying themselves in the darknut's vulnerable shoulder. With a shout, the darknut drops its weapon.

Link jumps back on the offensive, methodically snapping off bits and pieces of the darknut's armor. He feels wonderful. This battle is going so much easier for him than their previous bout. Being a wolf capable of intelligent thought has given him boundless advantages. He is able to use the heightened senses and strengths of an animal while still retaining his ability to think like a human being. The haze of bloodlust from his first fight in this form against the moblins has all but ebbed. He can win this. With Midna by his side, there's nothing he can't do!

"I should thank you, boy, for peeling away that annoying armor." The darknut draws a second blade, this one comparatively slimmer, but by no stretch of the imagination shorter. "Now the true fight can finally begin."

With unexpected speed the darknut is upon Link, bashing its shield into his snout hard enough for blood to trickle from one nostril. The darknut does not keep its grip on the shield, allowing it to fall to the ground like his many pieces of armor, like the hero's own Hylian one. At this point in their battle, using the bulky, heavy shield will only slow it down. Link growls, low and furious, and lunges for the darknut's jugular. The monster throws up its sword arm as a substitute for its neck, but just as Link's teeth pierce through the chain mail, the darknut delivers a kick to Link's side.

Yelping, Link releases his hold, sliding to the floor. He scrambles away quickly, claws scraping on the marble. The darknut's heavy boot lands where the hero's head had rested mere breaths ago.

The darknut stabs at the wolf, blade like a silver streak of lightning. Link is able to avoid being impaled or skewered, but he hasn't enough time between each dodge to retaliate.

Until Midna involves herself in the fray, that is. Her hair forms a fist that buries itself in the darknut's stomach. The darknut doesn't flinch. It wrenches at Midna's hair, uprooting her from her seat atop Link. It tosses her against the wall. She cries out once, sags to the floor, and does not get up again. Her hair drains of its vibrancy, receding back to the top of her head.

Link yearns to attend to Midna, but it must wait until after he finishes off the darknut. Midna's attack didn't cause pain, but instead served a secondary purpose; giving Link a window of time to attack the monster while it was otherwise distracted. He won't let his friend's pain be for nothing.

Again, the golden wolf aims for the darknut's throat. This time, he succeeds. Caught off guard, Link's once-formidable foe barely twitches as it's dealt the fatal bite, lifeblood dissolving into curling smoke as the darknut's body blackens with defeat.

The hero doesn't watch as the darknut crumbles away; rather, he's sprinting to Midna's side. He noses her cheek, a smear of his blood remaining on the cold flesh. Still she does not stir. Whimpering, he nudges her again and again. He doesn't know what else he can do for her in this state. His tail twitches with his anxiety.

"Down, boy." Midna shuffles upright, combing a hand through her hair. "Your nose is far too cold." She winces as she finds a lump. "You standing over me suggests that we've won. Have we?"

Link barks.

"Right, right. Bend down, come closer." When Link acquiesces, Midna plucks the stone from where she tangled it in his fur.

"Are you alright?" Are the first words from his human mouth.

"I think so, yes. The blow dazed me, but nothing more. There's not even any blood, see?" She wiggles her fingers in front of his face. "Now come on, let's go see what the darknut was guarding."

After reclaiming the Master Sword and his Hylian shield, Link walks to the far side of the room. The statue waits above him, and below it, in a chest, he finds a strange staff.

"Midna, do you know what this is?" He traces its silver swirling patterns.

"Erm, young man!" Ooccoo interjects, peeping out from his item pouch. "That's the artifact of my people I was speaking of earlier, gracious yes! That's the Dominion Rod!"

"What does it command?" Link swings it once.

A yellow ball of energy hums to life at the top of the rod. "Aim it at the statue up there." Ooccoo instructs, before sinking back inside the bag.

The hero does so, and to his and Midna's astonishment, the energy is drawn to a hollow in the statue's chest. The statue bursts into life, following Link's directions across the room. Pain suddenly spasms in his sword arm; with a hiss, Link drops the rod. The statue freezes instantly, lifeless once again.

"Your shoulder. You injured it when you first fought the darknut. How could I forget?"

"It's not that bad."

Midna quirks an eyebrow and folds her arms. "Link, if you cannot even hold the Dominion Rod, you can't hope to defeat whatever monster is lying in wait behind the main door. You need to rest first."

Link glances between Midna and the item on the floor. His hands curl into fists.

"There's no sense in getting frustrated. Now, let's get a look at that shoulder."

* * *

Several hours and one red potion later, Link stands before the boss's lair, heavy key in hand. Midna peers at him from his shadow. Looking at him now, she never would've pinned down his insecurities; his shoulders are broad, his hands steady as he turns the key. And yet, something still seems off to her. If questioned, she could not pinpoint the cause of her unease, but it lingers nonetheless, coiling in her stomach as they enter the final room of the temple.

The room is massive, ten times the arena Link faced the darknut in. Giant replicas of the statue he controlled earlier circle the room, dormant, waiting. He searches the dark room for his enemy, shield up, sword ready. A sudden scuttling on the ceiling draws his attention. His gaze shoots upwards, and what he sees enflames his blood. An enormous arachnid stares back with a large orange eye in its center. Link points his sword at it.

"Vile creature. Speak, if you can! Do you know Queen Gohma who infested Kokiri? The one responsible for injecting her poison through the Great Deku Tree, draining away his life-force?"

"My Queen," The armagohma laments, voice threaded with bitterness. "Slain. Slain by a Hylian meatsack years ago. I remember. I will never forget my Queen, my mother."

Link's knuckles turn milk-white on his sword's hilt. "You will soon join her."

The armagohma sprays a beam of hot acid, scorching the ground near the hero, illuminating the room. As he dodges the spew, he sheaths his blade, and retrieves his bow from his pouch. The attack soon tapers off; she's unable to keep up such a strong attack for long. He files this away for later use if he needs it. Before the room has the chance to darken again, Link nocks an arrow, and shoots it towards the monster's eye while it's still in plain sight.

The armagohma squeals as it falls far and hard to the stone floor, eight legs curling. It's an enormous creature, greater in size than even Queen Gohma had been. Link does not quail; his every limb feels on fire and alive, humming with hate. He eyes the statue it has landed in front of before whipping out his newly acquired Dominion Rod. Once the statue has been enlivened, Link raises his arm, the statue raising its hammer. He throws his arm down, the statue flattening the spider in his stead. Again. Again. Three of its legs fall from the body, still spasming with the memory of pain. Again. Again. And again, until the monster slips from its own skin. No. Link looks closer. The eye, it was no eye at all! Nothing more than a simple gohma, disguising itself as something greater than it was. As the gohma scuttles across the floor, multiple baby gohmas emerge from the armagohma's body, scurrying after their mother.

"Posturing? Your mother was a Queen. Look at you. Pathetic. No better than one of her underlings. Come back here, coward!" He pursues the fleeing gohma and its children, soon cornering it. The gohma draws its children close, tries to press itself into the wall itself. As if such as thing could ever be possible.

Now, Midna can pin down her unease, though it defining it hardly dismisses it; indeed, at this point in the battle, her discomfort has quadrupled. Link loathes the spiders, he's made that clear from the very first gohma they encountered. And if their queen truly destroyed the Great Deku Tree, as he says, then in Midna's opinion, his drive for vengeance is entirely valid. Still, such concentrated malice in one that is supposed to be the hero sets her on edge. Justification does not make something right. Still, what can she say at this point to shake him from this spiraling madness?

Link skewers one of the babies, its gurgles fading to silence as it dissolves into ash. One by one, he begins to pick off the children. The haze of hate leaves him deaf to their cries.

"My babies!" The gohma shrieks. "My babies!"

With a savage yell, Link goes to bring his sword down to kill another. Only to be halted by a glowing hand. Link squints at the sudden, intense bright light emanating from the stranger. It's an outline of a man, one entirely of light, but he has no physical features to speak of.

"Who are—"

"Murdering children in front of their mother is not very courageous." The figure has no mouth, and yet its stern voice rumbles around the room. Link is too worked up to be cowed.

"And murdering a father in front of his children is acceptable?"

"You despise the Queen of old. Do not become her in your anger."

Link tries to wrest his sword away, but the stranger does not so much as tighten his grip as he steps closer to the hero. Link's eyes are wide, his breaths coming in gasps. "How? How can you bear to touch it?"

The figure places his pointer finger upon Link's forehead. Instantly, the Hylian becomes boneless, lost in unconsciousness. The man catches him before he can fall too far. Midna, who had emerged from Link's shadow the moment the stranger arrived, looks on, stunned.

"Princess Midna," The figure dips his head slightly in acknowledgement. "Take Link from this place, outside, to your time. The fresh air shall revitalize him."

"What have you done to him? Who are you?" Midna bares her teeth, but her hands tremble. The figure knocked Link unconscious with a single _touch_.

The figure lays Link on the floor with care, straitening his cap, brushing off stray crumbs of dirt. "I have purged his memory of the wealth of this incident. When he awakens again, he shall recall that he defeated the armagohma, but that is all. His bloodlust, his cruelty—it will never have existed. You must guide him with greater precision, Princess. He cannot lose the purity of his spirit. He _must_ not."

The being stands, and makes as if to leave, but is stopped by Midna stamping her foot. "You have not yet answered my second question. Who are you?"

"I am Roark, the God of Time."

Midna laughs uneasily. "Why are you posturing as a God? All of Hyrule knows that there are but three Goddesses."

The room floods with light. Roark grows and grows, his towering form spiking fear in Midna's heart. His presence is more powerful than Zant, more powerful than Link or Zelda or anyone she has ever known. By Nayru, Roark is more powerful than everyone she has ever known _combined_, even _multiplied_. This is unbelievable, impossible. She cannot blink, breathe. Her heart has frozen in fear.

**"I am Roark, the God of Time."**

He is. Midna bows her head. Slowly, the room returns to as it had been. Roark stands before her again, not diminished, but suppressed; the hum of his being chatters her teeth.

Stumbling over her words, Midna forces out: "How can you manipulate Link's memory if you control time?"

"Does time not reveal the truth of matters?" Roark leans down and pats Midna's shoulder. His touch is negligible, like the brush of a feather. He places a shard of the mirror in her hands, procured as if from nothing. "Do not fret over such questions at this moment, dear Midna. Focus on your quest."

"The two heroes switching bodies. That wasn't a freak accident, was it? It was you!"

"You need not worry about the Hero of Twilight. He is faring well in the past, though he misses you deeply. I do not believe he has stopped arguing with Sheik since he got there." In spite of the situation, a smile tugs at Midna's lips at that. "You are very fond of him." Midna sputters, but cannot deny a thing. Roark turns to the other hero, who is blissfully asleep and unaware. "You are fond of this boy as well. But it is a different fondness. Remember what I have said. We shall meet once more before it is all over."

Just as suddenly as he appeared, Roark vanishes.

Midna sags to the floor. She cradles her face in her hands. Tears leak from her eyes.

"Have I gone mad?"

* * *

"Do you hear that?"

Midna starts at Link's question. She brought him to the Sacred Grove an hour ago, and only now has he stirred. She studies him. His cheeks are flushed, eyes bright. His being entirely clean of the thick malevolence she had witnessed in the armagohma's lair. Roark had truly done it.

"Hear what?"

"That, that right there! Music. It sounds like…a horn! And…and they're playing Saria's song! Maybe they know Saria! Maybe Saria's here!" His voice climbs higher with his excitement.

"I don't hear anything." Now that he brings it up, she can pick out the faintest prick of an instrument amidst the chittering wildlife. But the sooner they leave this place, the better. Midna pulls on his sleeve. "Let's go now. Take the shadow crystal from your pouch. Come on."

"No, no, someone's definitely playing music over there."

"Wait!" Midna demands, but Link pays her no mind. He walks towards the sound, away from the crumbling ruins and further into the woods. He heaves himself on top of a block of stone, which allows him to reach a grassy overhang. Deeper and deeper he goes, and reaches a second clearing, decorated with a different set of ruins. Midna trails behind him with great reluctance.

The distorted laugh of a child rings throughout the clearing. Link whirls around in circles, looking for the owner of the voice. "I know that laugh. It's a skull kid!"

"You'll never be able to draw him out; he always stays in the treetops. Let's _go_, Link. Please." A new fear is driving her. She cannot allow them to meet; there's no telling what the skull kid might say. Roark's warning sears her mind.

"No, hold on, I know how to get him to come closer. I've done it before, I just need…here!" Link holds up the horse-calling reed, slightly crumpled from its stay in his pouch.

He is right. No more than four bars of Epona's song have come whistling out before a scarecrowish child lands on a stump but several feet away. He squints at Link curiously, sniffs the air a few times. Link continues to play, an air of harmlessness around him. Gradually, the skull kid relaxes. He lifts his horn, and after a few measures more the two are playing a marvelous duet. Midna tugs at Link's ear several times, knowing how sensitive it is, but he only shrugs her off with a glare of annoyance. Link works the reed hard, forcing alterations of the melody, but there's only so much someone can do with a plant. Eventually, their song peters out.

"I wish I had an ocarina. We could play for much longer if I still had it."

"Long time since we've played together. Thought you forgot about me."

"Forget you?" Link is adamant. "I could never. I play with you at least once a year, right? I haven't broken that promise yet!"

The skull kid opens his mouth, and Midna yanks on Link's tunic insistently. "Link, we don't have time for this right now! We need to go seek out the next mirror shard right this instant!"

Link looks hurt. "Midna, why are you acting so strangely? I just want to talk with my friend for a few minutes. You understand, right?"

The skull kid mumbles.

"What was that?"

"You broke your promise. I haven't played with you in over…" He ticks off all the fingers on his one hand, and four on the other. "…ninety years."

"What?" Link's voice is a croak.

"He's lying!" Midna blurts, too loudly. Link's eyes darken with suspicion. He steps away from her. The skull kid winces at the noise.

"The skull kid is my friend."

"_I'm_ your friend! Link, remember our talk in the Temple of Time? You can trust me!"

The skull kid skulks into the bushes and away, uncomfortable with raised voices and confrontations. Link hardly notices, instead fixated on Midna's words.

"You said it wasn't the Temple of Time." Midna blanches. "When we entered the temple, you insisted it was a different temple. You're a liar, you've always been a liar!"

"Link, please, it was for your own good, I couldn't tell you—"

"Who are you to decide what's good for me and what's not?"

Midna cannot reply. Tears in his eyes, Link turns and bolts.

"Wait, Link! Stop! Where are you going?"

"Don't follow me!" He shouts, without looking back.

She pursues him, but he is more familiar with the forest than she is, not to mention the unfortunate proportionate different in their leg heights. Soon enough, she's lost him in the woods.

She is alone.

* * *

-TBC-


	8. Chapter VIII

The Bleeding Effect

Chapter VIII

* * *

Link was alone.

There was no way to tell how long he had been unconscious, what with the Shadow Temple eternally plunged in darkness. He leaned against the wall as his eyes struggled to readjust to the dim of the corridor.

"Navi? Sheik? Where are you?"

"I'm here!" Squeaked the fairy, as she popped out of his item pouch. He squinted at the sudden flare of bright blue light.

"Sheik?" He called again, his voice echoing back at him. Link rose, and checked the entire length of the corridor, then peered around both its ends; there was not a lone trace of the Sheikah. "Navi, did you see what happened?"

"It was something large, and dark. I couldn't see what it did, and before I knew it, it was gone again, and so was Sheik. You wouldn't stir no matter how loudly I called. All I could do was wait for you to awaken again."

Link rubbed his chin thoughtfully. Navi's and his impressions of the creature were too vague to pinpoint what exactly attacked them. And where was Sheik? Could he have been killed by the unknown monster? Why would Link be left alive, then? No, it was far more likely that Sheik was still alive, somewhere. Would he have retreated back to Kakariko, if the creature injured him? Or perhaps he pressed onwards, thinking he could rescue Impa faster without Link? The hero scowled. No. Sheik was annoyingly overprotective—even if he had lost enough of his trust in Link to want to continue on in the temple without him, the Sheikah hardly would have left Link alone, unaware and vulnerable. It was most likely, then, that Sheik had been taken by the monster. But where? And for what purpose? If it was to trap him, it was a waste of time; Link was already motivated to plunge into the Shadow Temple. What if Sheik was wounded? What if he didn't get to him in time?

"Link?" Navi hedged, drawing Link from his musings.

"Yes?"

Navi fumbled for the right words. "Well, you're not normally so…quiet and still. That is, unless you're solving some sort of trap or puzzle. But…there's nothing here."

Link chuckled. "I'm just debating which course of action to take next."

"As silly as it sounds, standing around planning and thinking just isn't like you. Listen, are you feeling alright?" Her tone flits from anxious to accusatory. "Did you hurt your head when fell, and you just haven't told me?"

"No, no, see?" He ruffled a hand through his hair, then held it up for the fairy to examine. "There's no blood. Not even a lump back there. I'm fine."

Navi was still not convinced. "Normally you would just jump right into the action."

Link shrugged, and weakly joked, "I suppose I'm just maturing, becoming more like an adult."

"What?" Navi blinked.

"Nothing. Now, let's go."

"You're pressing on? Without Sheik?"

"There's a better chance we'll run into him ahead of us then behind. Besides, Sheik can look after himself." Hopefully. He swallowed down the pessimistic word—he had no desire to work Navi up into a frenzy—as he continued onward, deeper into the Shadow Temple.

A soft, strange sound wormed into his ears, a repetitive _snick_, _snick_, _snick_. He turned two more corners before he found the origin. Guillotines.

"Fantastic." He muttered.

* * *

"Link? We still haven't found him."

"I know."

"We've explored almost every room so far."

"I know."

He couldn't find it within himself to be cross with her, despite her constant badgering and worrying. Navi's peppy voice was soft, subdued. Scared. Link didn't blame her. The Shadow Temple felt wrong, all wrong. His every instinct screamed at him to retreat back to the surface, to the dewy grass, the crisp air, the bright sun. To run from the shadows and back into the warm embrace of life. Everything here was cold, dark, dead. And the further he traveled down into its bowels, the thicker the presence of pure evil. This was not like Zant, not like the twilight, but something worse, tremendously worse. The swell of darkness he and Sheik had encountered in Kakariko Village could hardly compare to its enormity. It was if the Shadow Temple channeled and entombed all the wickedness of Hyrule. Impossible, his mind told him. His gut insisted otherwise.

But most frightening of all was how the darkness was beginning to affect him. In the gleam of a guillotine blade he caught his reflection. His mouth was swollen slightly, teeth growing almost too large to be contained. His nose was longer, the very beginning of a snout. He paused once, pulled up the cream-colored undershirt and the mail: sure enough, blue-gray fur had begun to sprout along his arm. Link did not stop to look again. Instead, he fought faster and with greater ferocity, wanting to rescue the sage (and Sheik, if he needed saving) before he transformed completely, even as it grew hard to hold the Master Sword with claws.

There was one small blessing from the Goddesses: it was too dark for Navi to see him clearly enough to notice he was changing, even with the faint illumination her body put forth. He hadn't the strength to deal with questions about his wolfish qualities, for his problems with the cloying darkness were not only external. The evil was clogging his veins, muddying his mind. Too often Navi had to shout warnings to him, lest he lose his life or a limb to some sick trap or twisted foe.

The dead piled at his feet, and bile constantly prickled in his throat, the Master Sword's silver glimmer coated in reddish-brown gore. He was miserable, sick to his soul. He had been having a hard enough time as the Hero of Twilight—he never wanted to be burdened with the responsibilities of the Hero of Time as well. He had never expected to face something like this. Link felt his courage being gnawed away. By the time he final reached the source of this evil (if he ever reached it) he would be nothing more than a trembling, frightened cucco.

Not for the first time, and probably not the last, Link pined for Midna. She would have lifted some of the haze from his mind with her witty comments. Who knows—perhaps the shadow crystal unintentionally gifted to them by Zant could have sopped up some of the black in his heart.

He surveyed the new room quickly, eyes darting from the map to the surroundings and back again. It seemed he had to take the ferry to reach the last handful of remaining rooms. Strange, to think that this would be his first boat ride. He should've taken Iza up on her offer for a free ride when he was still in his own time.

Link stepped onto the boat carefully, tapping the floorboards with the tips of his boots for stability before resting his full weight upon them. He had shoved the Hover Boots back into his pouch some time ago, their usefulness in this temple seemingly at an end. Patches creaked and groaned here and there, but despite the damp of the air, there was no area softened by rot.

There were no sails, no hint of wind. No oars. Link's gaze lingered on the gargantuan symbol of the triforce carved into the wood.

"What should I do?" He asked dumbly. He knew the answer, he did, but his mind was too sluggish to dredge it up.

"Are you feeling alright, Link?"

"Let's just finish this." He couldn't spend a single day more in here. They needed to finish this before the now-delicate threads of his sanity were unraveled completely.

"Get out your ocarina. The Princess' lullaby might work."

Link wanted to rip his hair out. "I can't play the dumb instrument without Sheik's help!"

"I'm sorry."

Link breathed deeply, but instead of clearing his head, the air only clouded it further. His anger simmered like hot coals in his gut. He desperately tried to smother it, but instead it was fanned, a blazing inferno of rage.

"What's…happening to me?" He choked. Link fell to his knees, palms pressed uselessly against the burning in his chest. It wasn't painful, exactly, but it still felt wrong, terrible. It was as if every nasty thought that had ever crossed his mind came flooding back. Small things, petty things that he'd gotten over as he matured. His envy of Rusl's swordsmanship. The tiny spark of irritation when the Ordonian children pestered him to play on his one day off from the ranch. The burst of greed when he'd see families together, while he returned to an empty house. Why was this all coming back? Why now?

As sudden as the rush of negative emotions came upon him, they were gone. Link rubbed at his chest, the heat now abruptly absent.

"What was that?" Asked Navi.

"I'm not entirely sure. But whatever it was, it's gone now." Pushing down his unease, he dismissed the odd occurrence until he was more clear-headed, and could truly puzzle over it. "I can't play the ocarina, not well enough. How else can we get the boat to move?"

Together, Link and Navi inspected every inch of the boat they could reach. It seemed that there used to be a deck below, but regardless of how much he pulled and pried, he could not open the trap door that lead to it. Honestly, he was not sure he wanted to. The ship was mostly unadorned, save for its bow. Two golden bells were gripped tightly in withered hands. The bowsprit was carved from dull slate, in the now-familiar image of a raven. Though slightly interesting, neither decorations were very helpful. Link returned to the triforce symbol, and sat down in front of it, his back to the bow of the ferry, the religious symbol inverted.

Link strained his eyes to seek some sort of truth, a way out of this place that did not rely on his abysmal musical skills, but nothing was forthcoming.

Something was watching him.

He whipped around, but there was nothing there, save for the back of the statue's head and the tunnel beyond. With a soft curse, Link rose again, and lifted the Ocarina of Time from his pouch. With Navi's (unnecessarily over-detailed) instructions on where to place his fingers, he managed to squeak out the melody. As soon as the final note faded, he stuffed the ocarina away again, a stain of embarrassment on his cheeks. At least no one but Navi was around to hear it.

As if just to prove him wrong, the statue of the raven's head started to twist around. It turned slowly, and the screeching sound it emitted as it did so forced Link to cover his ears and Navi to cower beneath his cap. Stone was never meant to twist.

Once its head faced Link, to the hero's astonishment, the stone began to speak. The first syllables were dry and hoarse, but its voice quickly gained strength.

"I am the Ferry to the Other World. You insult me with such a pathetic offering."

"I cannot play well," Link admitted, voice quavering slightly.

"Clearly."

"Is there something else you would like as payment? I need to get across this river."

The raven tilted its head slightly, the stone shrieking. Link winced, but the statue remained unaffected by the noise. "Can you sing the lullaby instead?"

Link nearly laughed, at the edge of hysteria. Through all his adventures, he never imagined he would perform a song for a talking boat. A talking _boat_. What a ridiculous concept!

"I will try, at the very least."

"Fail again to please me, mortal, and I will never move for you." Link clapped his hands to his ears again as the raven twisted back to its original position, before falling completely still once more.

Well, Link could hardly allow Ganondorf to win simply because he couldn't impress a chunk of stone. He stood up as straight as possible, and breathed deeply, though the air was dank with evil.

What came from his mouth, to Link's horror, was a howl. He was already several bars into Zelda's Lullaby; he didn't dare cut himself off and begin again, forcing himself to sing as a Hylian. There was no guarantee he'd be able to do so, and to disrupt the song would anger the raven. So he closed his eyes, and continued to howl the song with gusto, like he would in a duet with the old, golden wolf. The last note reverberated, and slowly faded away within the tunnel. Then, nothing. A spike of fear pierced Link's heart. Would the boat not take him after all?

A rumbling laugh rent the silence in two. "I cannot say I have ever heard such an interpretation of the Royalty's most beloved song, wolf-man. The toll has been paid."

The bells jingled; Link peered over the side of the ship, and saw the hands waving the bells to and fro. He staggered as the ferry shuddered into motion, slowly drifting forwards into the gloom.

"Why didn't you sing it?"

"Oh, well, you see…" Link fumbled. "I just felt that howling it would be more…fitting. Yes. More fitting for such an atmosphere."

He could tell that Navi did not believe him, but she did not voice this, so he did not bring it up.

There was a faint splashing sound in the water. Link hesitated at first, one hand gripping the raven statue for safety's sake. But as time passed and they seemed no closer to reaching the end of the tunnel, he gave into his curiosity. He leaned over the edge (not too far) to observe the water. A thick mist, like clouds covering up the sun, obscured his sight of it.

The wolf within him growled in protest, but Link gingerly lowered his hand anyway, past the cool kiss of the mist, straining to touch the water beneath, only to be met with…nothing. No water, only empty air. The boat was floating through nothing.

"What if it falls?" His voice was infused with horror. How far down would the drop be? And, assuming he survived the fall, would something be waiting for him down there at the bottom?

A deathly cold hand grabbed his. With a cry, Link struggled to pull his arm from the mist. Something equally as strong was trying to pull the rest of his body in. Through the swirl of black and white, he saw himself, half-transformed into his wolf form. But Link's own mouth was open with a scream he could not voice, his features twisted with desperation; his reflection was sneering, hateful. The pupils dissolved in a blaze of red.

"It's Dark Link! You can't let him pull you in, you have to fight!"

"How can I?" Link grunted. "He's just as strong as I am. He is me!"

"You must conquer yourself. Be more than who you already are. Be better. If you don't, you'll die!"

"I can't die here. There are far too many people depending on me!"

His hand seared, the golden light of the triforce bursting forth. Dark Link hissed, and its grip slackened enough for Link to pull himself free. He fell backwards, hard onto the deck of the ferry. His body, once stuck in the stupor of shadow, now hummed and pulsed with the bright energy of fear.

Link sat up, and any relief he felt at breaking free of the monster was quashed by dread as Dark Link slithered onto the boat.

"I don't understand!" Navi babbled. "This doesn't make any sense at all. You defeated your reflection in the Water Temple already. Why has it come back again?"

Link drew his blade. Dark Link mirrored him flawlessly. "Navi, tell me. What exactly _is _Dark Link?"

"I am you." The voice was deeper than Link's own, but he could still hear himself threaded within. "The Shadow Temple is the manifestation of what Hyrule truly is, beneath the surface. Just as I am who you truly are. All your hatred, jealously, anger. Everything that you lie to yourself about, everything you attempt to ignore or deny about yourself—that is me. That is Dark Link."

Link paled, his pallor now contrasting even greater with his counterpart's. "This is impossible. The people of Hyrule have noble hearts. They would never—they could never carry in their hearts such evils as I have encountered down here."

"When King Bulblin held Colin captive, in your fury, you imagined inflicting _such _tortures upon the creature. You wanted to quarter him, with Epona being one of the pulling horses. You wanted to flay it alive. You wanted to slowly twist the Master Sword into its most tender muscles until it eventually bled to death."

"No, I-I didn't _do_ any of those things. I only thought them. I didn't mean them!"

"You always mean what you think." Dark Link lunged as Link did, the clash of their blades ricocheting off the tunnel walls as the ferry trundled on. They continued their duel, constantly meeting each other's swords, perfect mirrors. Slowly, Link felt himself begin to weaken, in both body and spirit.

"You want Midna." Dark Link began again.

"Enough! Don't drag her into this!" Link's attack, over-hasty in his anguish, cost him, as Dark Link managed to slice open his shoulder. The strength of his sword arm puddled out onto the wood.

"She's smart, and shares your sense of humor. But you cannot love her completely. The reason is shallow, but who can blame you, really? All the heart and character in the world amounts to nothing when she is just a squat, deformed little imp. You could never happily fuck something that small."

"Stop," Link nearly sobbed. All his techniques that he worked so many days to master escaped him now. Every time their swords connected, some of the darkness within his foe seemed to travel into Link. The sluggishness from earlier resurged with a vengeance. He could barely see the boat anymore, and Navi's blue light had been swallowed entirely. The only thing keeping him alive was the bright glare of Dark Link's eyes.

Before Link could react, Dark Link grasped his wrist and dragged him closer. The shadow's body was chilled, and its breath smelled of rot.

"You're not good enough to be the hero."

Link had heard this line of reasoning before. From Shad, from murmuring Zoras who thought he wasn't within earshot, from a troupe of sneering Gorgons. From himself. Though such comments stung his pride, he could normally shrug them off. But the situation he was in now, down in Hyrule's underbelly, was the utter opposite of normal.

"You let the children get kidnapped. You couldn't defend Midna, so to save her you murdered Zelda."

"Stop, please!"

"You cannot accomplish your own mission to defeat Zant. And now here you are, blustering about in the past, trying to fill the shoes of the greatest hero of all time. Zant is a flea to Lord Ganondorf. Someone as pathetic as you could never hope to even scratch Him."

Dark Link watched without sympathy as Link fell to the floor. The tip of its foul blade bit into Link's neck.

"You are worthless. You are not a hero."

Dark Link raised its weapon for the final blow.

Link squeezed his eyes shut, but quickly opened them at Dark Link's unexpected howl of pain.

Light, brilliantly gold, fiercely bright, lit the entire tunnel. It dimmed slightly, but then a second magic-infused arrow hit Dark Link in the chest. The shadow staggered back, clawing at its new wound. Link could feel the light working on him, too, cleansing him of his wolfish features. The arrows continued to rain down upon it, until, with an angry howl, Link's double disappeared back over the side of the ferry. Only one person he knew had the wisdom to use light in such a way.

"Princess Zelda?" He wondered as he turned his battered body around. To his surprise, it was not a woman who wielded the bow, but a man.

"That's not the last we'll see of that nefarious creature, I'm sure of it."

"_Sheik_?"

"Are you truly so surprised, hero?" The Sheikah knelt beside Link, swapping his bow for a roll of bandages. Carefully, but not all that gently, he dressed Link's wounds.

"How did—"

"Link!" Shouted Navi, right into said Hylian's ear. "I was so, so worried about you! When you were fighting Dark Link, it was as if there was some sort of huge black force field around you! I couldn't see you, hear you, anything!" She drooped. "I'm sorry I couldn't do anything more to help you."

"Navi…"

Before Link could wave off her apology, she perked up again of her own volition. "I won't let it happen again. We'll stick together. No matter what!"

Link smiled softly. "Right."

Her enthusiasm was charming. Sheik tied off the last of the bandages rather tightly, jerking Link's attention back to him. So many questions clamored in Link's mind, all wanting to be asked first.

"Sheik, how did you find us? And why did you run off on your own?"

Sheik crossed his arms. "I did not 'run off on my own'. I was dragged away, quite against my will. Did you not see it?"

Link shook his head. "I turned around when you shouted, and then the next thing I knew, I was on the floor, and you were gone."

The other man gave a hum of understanding. "It was a wallmaster. It dragged me all the way back to the entrance of the temple, where I finally managed to get free enough from its grasp to kill it." He paused. "Wallmasters crawl along the ceiling so quietly that no normal person would hear their approach. I would have heard it, however, had I not been…sidetracked." He leveled Link a look. "Which brings me to a question of my own. But first, drink this."

Sheik pushed a red potion into Link's hands.

Link uncorked it, but hesitated. "Shouldn't we wait until we reach the monster that came from the town well? We may need it more then."

"If you don't drink it now, what guarantee is there that you'll make it that far?"

"Sheik! Don't even joke about such a thing." Scolded Navi, before adding, "But Link, you really should drink it. You look terrible!"

"Tactful as ever." Link muttered.

"What?"

"Nothing, nothing." He drank down the potion quickly, face crinkling at its bitter tang. The hero handed the bottle back to its owner. "Satisfied?"

"Not yet. Now tell me. How do you possess eyes which can see the truth?"

Sweet Din. Amidst all he had endured during the past several hours, Link had all but forgotten about their argument. Now here he was, scrambling for lies.

"Perhaps it's just a…hero…thing?" He floundered.

"No. It is not. Your predecessors did not share this power. Lady Impa would have informed me if that were the case. Try again. The _truth_, this time, if you please."

Link tried to rise, but Sheik grabbed his wrist, grip firm and unrelenting, pulling him down again. A bracelet on Sheik's arm Link had never noticed before jangled at the movement. Frowning, he peered closer. It was a simple gold band, inlaid with a bright amethyst in the shape of an eye.

"Did you have this on before?"

Sheik snatched back his hand and covered up the bracelet.

"It's none of your concern. A trinket gifted to me by Lady Impa; nothing more."

"It hardly seems a trinket." Link didn't want to start bickering again—where between him and Midna it was playful, between him and Sheik it was heated—but he still found himself falling back into the pattern again.

"Why can you see though walls?"

"'It's none of your concern.'" Link parroted.

The ferry shook violently.

"What's going on?" Link cried.

Navi, high above them, shouted back: "This ship is sinking! Abandon ship! Get onto a safe platform!"

"Come on!" Sheik tugged him to the port side of the ferry, and they leapt from it to a strip of stone. Link glanced back, and only saw the tip of the raven's head as it disappeared beneath the mist. They had nearly plummeted to certain doom.

Shivering slightly, Link stood. "Look, Sheik. You can't trust me to tell you the truth, and I can't trust you to do so either. But we _can _trust each other when it comes to this quest. We _can _trust each other for protection. We _can _trust that our backs will be defended, not stabbed. All through the Shadow Temple, I tripled checked every single room I came across, making absolutely sure I didn't overlook anything that indicated you were held captive somewhere nearby. If there had been one spot of fresh human blood, one strand of hair—I would have found it. I never gave up on you. And without you, Sheik, Dark Link would have killed me." Link extended his hand. "Now, are you with me or not? Can we both ignore each other's secrets for the time being, and press on?" Sheik was not keen. "Please, Sheik. I really have no desire to do this without your help."

Link smiled. "It's dangerous to go alone."

Finally, Sheik reached out and accepted his hand.

* * *

"That seems a bit far."

Link, Sheik, and Navi peered down the giant hole in the center of the room. Below, the dark presence they encountered before was waiting for them. Though Link could not see the monster yet, he could feel its oily aura all about. For some reason, Sheik's presence warded off most of the darkness up to this point. At the moment, all Link had to hide was the curl of his claws; the rest of his features remained unaltered. Strange, as Sheik was one of the Sheikah tribe; a group of Hylians that served the Royal Family from the _shadows_. Yet another mystery to add to the pile.

Sheik picked up a nearby skull and dropped it into the hole.

"Hey!" Link protested indignantly. "That's disrespectful to the dead!"

"Clearly he didn't need it anymore."

They watched as it bounced on the floor, rolled a ways, then fell still once again.

"If that frail skull did not shatter upon impact, then neither shall we, hero."

They jumped down, Navi following, a tiny blue light to guide their way. Link braced for hard impact, but instead bounced. Leaning down, he inspected the surface of the ground. It felt like an old animal hide.

"What by Nayru is this?"

Two enormous hands emerged from the darkness, gray with rot and age. They beat a rhythm onto the floor, disrupting their balances. The low sound was not unlike a heartbeat, or that of a—

"It's a drum!" Said Navi. "You're standing atop a giant drum."

Then it appeared. A colossal corpse, bloated with death. Flaps of flesh wreathed its stump of a neck, and in the center, a massive, blood-red eye glared balefully back at Link. The color brought back a flash of memory—Dark Link standing over him, sneering, whispering—

Link moaned softly, and Sheik shot him a worried glance. But there was no time for concern. The monster from the well had begun its attack. The body of the beast receded back into a thin veil of shadow. The severed hands, meanwhile, chased Sheik and Link around the surface of the drum. The Sheikah threw sets of needles continuously, immobilizing the hand that pursued him one finger at a time. The other hand crept towards Sheik's back; before it could even come close, Link carved a long cut across its palm. The blood did not spurt out as Link expected. Instead, the split skin simply parted to reveal brown blood which had long since stopped flowing. Small bits flaked off and fell on the drum. Perhaps he shouldn't have been surprised. Goddesses only know how long the vile thing's been dead.

Its voice was a deep rumbling of thunder. "It's not fair! It's not!" A hand glided closer; Link bashed it away with his shield. He heard two of the giant knuckles crack. "They were the ones who were mad. They were the ones who were wrong! Not I! _Them_!" Sheik subdued the other hand completely. A few swift sword strokes, and Link accomplished the same.

Its hands felled for the moment, the monster's body came forward once again, but this time to fight. The reek of its evil made Link bark with pain: his tail sprouted without warning. Wonderful. He needed to end this battle, _now_.

"They just couldn't see the truth! They didn't understand that sacrifices must be made. It's not my fault! It was the truth!"

See the truth. Of course. Link grit his teeth, which were elongating and sharpening by the second. Chopped off hands. An absent head. This was what remained of the man who had lived where the well was built, the man who obtained the eye of truth, the very same eye which gleamed in the black.

The hero charged towards the giant eye. He would deliver the monster a swift death, in honor of what it once had been.

But the closer he came to the monster's body, the thicker the darkness. He tried to push through it, tried to reach the eye, but every step sprouted more and more fur. Too much, too much. If he didn't turn back, he wouldn't be able to _turn _back, not in time for Sheik and Navi not to see. Link stumbled away, but it was too late. The meager distance could not shield him from the flood of darkness. Link hunched over, bones crunching, popping, shifting, growing, until the transformation was complete. Link was a wolf.

At the astonished, intermingled cries of Sheik and Navi, Link knew that they had seen him.

* * *

-TBC-


	9. Chapter IX

The Bleeding Effect

Chapter IX

AN: Thank you all for your reviews and follows. I appreciate the constant support. I read everything, even if I might forget to reply to them.

* * *

Link runs. He has no goal, no objective, no destination. He just lets his legs take him where they will, as long as it's far, far away from her. His foot snags on a root, and he goes down hard. He coughs out the dirt from his mouth, wipes the soil from his burning arms. Then he's up again, legs all but flying through the underbrush. He crashes through the mess of foliage in his way, for the first time in his life treating the trees with utter disrespect.

Tears sting the corners of his eyes. When they trickle down his cheeks, he forces himself to believe they've been caused by the whipping wind, and nothing more. He is so foolish. Such an imbecile. Of course. Of _course _he couldn't trust her. She lied to him, she betrayed him. Of course she did. Why did he bother to believe for even a minute that she had been telling him the truth? No one _ever_ has! They all swear their love, all vow to stay by his side. But they lie. He's nothing more to any of them than a tool. A means to an end. Not once has he been treated like a person, but only as a way to realize goals, to free the sages, to collect the mirror shards, to save the kingdom, to rescue the princess. What about what he wants?

His side feels like a hot knife has been twisted into it. He must stop. Link stumbles to a halt, chest heaving. He presses his forehead to the rough bark of a tree, willing the specks at the corners of his vision to fade.

Link cannot recall the last time he did something because _he _wanted to do it. Even when he was younger, before the Great Deku Tree implored him for his aid, everything he did was a desperate gambit to impress Mido. If Mido, the leader of the Kokiri, could have found it within himself to accept Link, then the rest of the tribe would've followed suit. He wouldn't have had to be alone anymore. But the few times Mido stopped ignoring him, it was only to jeer and laugh at him.

His gasps quiet to deep breaths, so he starts running again, despite the complaining ache of his muscles. Link would not have survived his childhood if not for Saria. And she knew it. She knew that he needed her. She knew, so why did she—don't think about it. Don't think about any of it. Why have the Goddesses cursed him so? Has he unwittingly committed some sort of heinous crime? Did his ancestors? Or do the Goddesses simply delight in his torment?

Link almost wishes he had her accursed stone. He wants to melt into the form of an animal and disappear into the woods forever.

* * *

Midna sits hunched on a stump, head in her hands. How had everything gotten so out of control so quickly? That infernal skull kid! She should hunt that little twerp down and teach him a lesson he'll never forget. But she still won't have found Link. With a growl of frustration, she slams her fist upon the stump.

Midna flexes her now throbbing hand. Stares down at her tiny curled fingers. If only she had access to the full extent of her magic. If only she was in her true form. She'd be able to catch up to Link easily. She might even be able to fiddle with the magic in place at the Temple of Time in order to return the Hero of Time back where he belongs.

She hates this. She isn't cut out for helping a child, especially one who has been through as much as the ancient hero has. She wants _her _Link back. She wants to forget that his whole horrible mess ever happened.

"I hope you have learned that nothing good ever springs out of withholding truths."

Midna whirls. Then shudders.

"Roark."

The God steps closer, then crouches down in front of her. She's unnerved by His facelessness.

"You must make this right," Roark commands. "His heart must not harden. It must remain pure."

"Why?" Midna snaps back. "He needs to mature. He needs to learn that people lie, that abandonment is a possibility. He cannot remain innocent forever. It's simply not natural, and leaves him weaker than he should be."

"Weakness is preferable to the alternative possibility."

"What's going to happen to him? What could possibly be so horrible that a God must interfere? And why only you—where are the Goddesses?"

"The boundless curiosity of mortals never ceases to amaze me." His tone is light, faintly amused. "I do suppose some explanation is in order." He waves His hand, and the forest falls away. Midna and Roark seem to be hovering over a land, but it isn't Hyrule. It's one with snow-capped mountains, deep canyons, vast seas, humid swamps, and a most curious looking town.

"When Din, Nayru, Farore, and I went to create our world, we found ourselves in disagreement. My sisters desired to create a tetraforce, a tangible proof of our existence, so that all would acknowledge our existence and worship us for all eternity. It was intended to hold only a sliver of our powers—just a drop of Farore's courageous vitality, Din's wild power, Nayru's never-ending knowledge, and my mastery over time.

But the thought of even a miniscule amount of my power in the hands of mortals made me uneasy. One who controls time controls the truth of events. If a mortal was unhappy with reality, if they wielded my power they could simply rewrite that reality however they saw fit. I feared that they might even find a way to manipulate time to the point where neither I nor my sisters existed."

Roark pauses, and turns His gaze from Midna to the illusion He created. He swirls the water of the ocean absentmindedly with the tip of His finger.

"You must understand, mortal princess. We created a secondary plane for your spirits to live on in even after the deaths of your bodies. There is no place of that kind for ones such as me. The Goddesses and I exist for all eternity—unless we never exist in the first place. As immortals, there is no haven for our souls. Our lives would end forevermore.

But my sisters, even Nayru, could not comprehend this. They created the world as you know it without my help. Foolishly, I decided to create my own world, apart from them. One without any sacred golden triangles. A land where people worshipped me not because they had no other choice, but because they came to their own understanding of the truth through careful deliberation. I wanted to prove that I was better, that I was right." Roark's outline flickers, and His voice softens with grief. "I could feel its imperfection even before its completion. Without the added qualities of my sisters, the land, even in its first day of existence, was already flawed. Thus I called it Termina, for even as I breathed life into its first inhabitants, I knew it was destined to fail."

Roark clenches His fists. In front of Midna rise three enormous towers of stone. "Though I was fond of all my creations, I had a special love for the land of Ikana. Their Stone Tower was so marvelously made, so intricately and intelligently fashioned. It was quite simply the best creation the mortals had ever made. Through various oracles, I explained to them how my sisters betrayed me. They sympathized with me, a little too well." Midna grimaces at the images displayed before her. A giant stone hand points skyward, and beside it, a phallic statue: a rather obscene gesture intended for those above. Then, statues with grotesque features, whose inordinately long tongues drag down to their crotches, where they lick the image of the triforce. Thick, brutish men leer and grin as they beat the stones into these offensive shapes. Then, the image dissolves into one of war at its worst: men slaughtering, pillaging, forcing themselves upon protesting women; women weeping, betraying, watching their children murdered before them. It's the ultimate horror, and Midna can hardly bear to keep looking.

"Emboldened by my support," continues Roark. "Ikana became a land of overconfident, blood-lusting warriors, who were constantly embroiled in one war after another with their many neighbors. I should have been firmer with them. I had hoped that the passage of time would permit them to comprehend the folly of their endless violence—but the cycle persisted. It was not until my sisters learned of Ikana's blasphemy that their reign of terror over Termina ceased. Forever."

Midna gasps as the Stone Tower flips over, as its numerous inhabitants plummet down to their deaths, screaming, crying. The statues are inverted, the triforce now triumphant atop the faces.

"I should have been firmer with them," He reiterates grimly.

After a moment, Midna has recovered enough from her terror at the fate of Ikana to speak. "What does Termina have to do with switching the Links?"

"Everything." Then, harder, with more force behind it— "Do not interrupt again until I have finished my tale." Ikana's fall fades away, to be replaced with the image of a single, smiling man with carrot-orange hair.

"My grief at the loss of Ikana was great, and it led me to make yet another terrible mistake. I found a new project. Instead of reaching out to an entire community, this time I focused my efforts upon only an individual. I infused the Clock Town mayor's newborn son with special powers, similar to my own. I crafted a mortal who could discern truth from fallacy—he could peel off the masks of the people around him. But as I watched him grow, he seemed no different than the ordinary men, and I soon lost interest and forgot him."

The smiling man is replaced with four glowing auras—one amethyst, one ruby, one emerald, and one sapphire. The token colors of the individual God and Goddesses, Midna notes. Beneath them, four red giants stand overlooking Termina.

"I came to be at peace with my sisters. As a promise to never again wipe out even one portion of Termina's community again, my sisters and I created colossi to serve as watchful protectors of the land. The giants solved disputes among the mortals, and were a constant reminder to me and my sisters to stay our hands. For a very long time, there was peace.

But peace is one of the many things that cannot withstand the passage of time. In the lifeless land of Ikana, a dragon that called itself Majora appeared as if from nowhere. It continually lured Terminans from their homes with the promise that any to defeat it would be rewarded with the power of a God. It had to be stopped, but it was too powerful even for the giants to handle. There was nothing left to do but for me to descend into Termina in a mortal form to do away with the beast myself."

The dragon's eyes are huge and striking, a wild blend of green, red, and yellow. Its purple body is ribboned with red, and a series of white spikes jut out along its spine. Majora roars, chest puffing with challenge. A glowing figure appears to do battle with the dragon, and Midna is unable to stop herself from blurting: "That's Link!"

She experiences a brief flicker of fear—she hadn't meant to interrupt the God, but nevertheless, she still did—but Roark only laughs.

"My dear sister Farore wasn't as angry with me as she pretended to be. She modeled her champion in my image."

Midna's mouth hangs open slightly as she studies Roark's human form battling Majora. His hair is a shocking white, but still in the same style as Link's. His face is a mask of red and blue markings, and his eyes, without pupils. Atop his pale blue tunic there is a gleaming silver cuirass with the images of a crescent moon and a single golden triangle. The Twilight Princess watches Roark's helix-edged sword cut a sharp, fatal line down Majora's side. The dragon collapses, and Roark flicks its blood off his blade. Then comes clapping, accompanied with a chilling giggle. Roark turns, and is visibly surprised to see the carrot-haired man. The God's shock is swallowed by a flash of light.

"I was deceived by my own creation." There was bitterness in His voice, but little anger. Midna isn't surprised; the battle must have happened ages ago, more than enough time for the God's rage to cool. "He created Majora to lure me down to Termina. Once there, he sealed the bulk of my power in what he calls the 'Fierce Deity's Mask'."

"That's why you're no more than an outline," Midna realizes. "He ripped away your human form."

"Indeed. With the majority of my power sealed inside the mask, I am limited in what I can do to stop him. My sisters will not assist me, as the fault of the man's existence and powers is mine alone. So, I have turned to their creations for aid. To you."

Midna takes a moment to process the vast quantity of information she has just been told in such a short span of time. As she rubs at her temples to soothe away the forming headache, her heart thumps quickly in her chest. She is talking to a _God_. He could obliterate her at any moment. She needs to be extremely careful with what she says—even with what she thinks. Even if most of his powers have been robbed of him—just like her—she has no idea what types of powers he still retains.

As calmly and neutrally as possible, Midna states, "I still don't understand why you switched the Links."

"It's all because of what that man intends to do with the mask. Soon after he triumphs over Ganon, the Hero of Time shall mistakenly stumble into my own mistake—into Termina. He will be manipulated into donning the Fierce Deity's Mask. If his spirit is embittered and impure, he will slake himself with its power, and all shall be lost. I could not allow this to happen, so I have forced the Hero of Time to remain entirely innocent, instead of permitting his mind to mature and develop. The simplicity of his mind hampers his potential as a warrior, as you have seen. If he were to fight Ganon in such a fragile state, he would most assuredly die. This is something I also cannot allow. The Hero of Twilight is a far more seasoned warrior. With the help of the allies available to him in the past, he shall have minimal trouble with Din's champion." Roark sighs. "It's not the most brilliant of plans, but it shall simply have to work."

"And what's going to happen afterwards? Will you fix the Hero of Time's mind? Will you restore the Hero of Twilight to where he belongs?"

"You have my word. As soon as my creation and his masks are dealt with for good, all shall be restored." Roark stands. "Come. Let us find Link before trouble does."

"How are we going to do that?" Wonders Midna.

In response, the form of Roark shifts into a magnificent, enormous, glowing owl.

"Climb aboard my back." Roark hoots. "And we shall go to him."

Swallowing down a touch of hysteria, Midna does as the God of Time commands. As He takes off into the sky, she curls her fingers in His feathers, and hopes that they find Link soon.

* * *

Link can run no further. His exhaustion is like an impossibly heavy anchor, dragging him down. He falls on all fours, heaving; nothing comes out but stringy bile. He wipes at his mouth miserably.

An odd rustling noise has him scrambling into a standing position, Master Sword out.

"Who's there?" He calls. "Midna?"

He's answered by the howling of wolfos. Three of them burst through the foliage. Their glowing green eyes never stray from Link as they begin to circle around him. Link knows that whatever move he makes next will send them all charging at him. He won't be able to defend himself against them all, so he needs to make this next move count.

Screaming a battle cry, Link charges towards the one wolfos in front of him. He hears the other two beasts pivot, crunching over fallen leaves and twigs, rushing to snap at his back. He needs to get this right. Seconds before the jaws of the wolfos he's charging towards enclose around his neck, Link plunges the Master Sword into the soil, using its hilt and his momentum to vault himself over the beast. The wolfos don't have enough time to stop, and collide with each other in a tangle of claws and fur.

Before they have time to pick themselves up and recover, Link reclaims his weapon, and swiftly runs through one of the wolfos. The remaining two back away from the hero and his bloody blade.

"Not so tough now, are you?" Link taunts, even though he needs to swallow down the tremors that threaten to quake his voice.

Suddenly, several more howls pierce the air, and instead of a measly two foes, the Hero of Time is now up against thirteen.

"By Farore," He curses. "You weren't afraid of me. You were just biding your time for reinforcements, so you wouldn't have to work as hard to kill me." Link draws a deep breath, steadying himself. He takes up a defensive stance. Bravely, he shouts, "Well, come at me then!"

The wolfos might not understand Hylian, but they can comprehend his tone of voice plain as day. The horde charges, snapping, snarling, barking. It doesn't take Link long to realize that he has no chance of winning this battle.

He breaks the jaw of one wolfos with a bash of his shield, and then three more are upon his outstretched arm, biting and clawing. If not for his chain mail, he'd be dead already.

Link slashes out with the Blade of Evil's Bane, forcing the wolfos to retreat slightly. It's a trick he uses often; all wicked creatures harbor at least some fear of the Master Sword's bite. Thankfully, the wolfos are hardly the most cunning of beasts. They have failed to take advantage of his utter disadvantage: if they could bring themselves to overcome their fear of Link's blade, their great numbers would overcome him shortly, mail or no. They would have overwhelmed and slain him, if not for their cowardice.

He swipes out at them a few more times, pushing his luck as far as possible, if only to get them even a few more inches further from him.

Then, Link quickly stabs the Master Sword into a nearby tree, using the flat of the blade to boost him higher into its branches. Years of tree climbing with Saria have paid off; in a matter of seconds, he's near the top of the tree, entirely out of reach of the wolfos. This is all well and good, but he cannot stay up here forever. So what now?

"Come on, come on, think of something," he murmurs. Then he lights up with an idea, snapping his fingers. "Of course!"

Link rummages through his pouch. He—well, his descendent, technically—has tons of alternate weapons at his disposal. It's high time he puts them to good use. Carefully, he pulls out an unlit bomb and a match.

The wolfos scrape at the bark of his tree that they can reach, all the while being careful to avoid the Master Sword. Link feels the vibrations of their claws, and lights the fuse quickly. He looks below as he heaves the bomb downwards and out—he wants to kill the wolfos, yes, but he doesn't desire to blow up his tree in the process.

The force of the blast has the tree groaning in protest as it leans away from its source. Link clenches his eyes shut as he grasps harshly at the bark, wood climbing beneath his fingernails.

Once the smoke dissipates, and the tree stops swaying, Link opens his eyes again. Of the thirteen that once circled the three, ten remain. Still not good odds, but at least they're slightly improved.

However, the wolfos are now wary. About half of them press themselves so close to his tree, that Link won't dare drop another bomb on them, lest him and the entire tree go down with them. The others retreat, slinking further back into the woods, just waiting for him to come back down.

But Link isn't entirely out of surprises yet. He roots through the pouch again. The boomerang? No, that will merely stun them. He instead grasps the bow and quiver. After slinging the quiver on his back, he nocks an arrow. It hits its target, though instead of striking the beast's heart, it sinks into the flesh of its shoulder. Nevertheless, the wolfos collapses, twitching as its lifeblood pools out. The others tread upon it as if it's already dead. Nine more remain.

Link reaches behind his back for another arrow when the ground inexplicably begins to shake. He isn't ready; with one hand holding onto the bow, and the other grabbing an arrow, he doesn't have a hope of steadying himself in time. He tips over forwards off the branch, plummeting down. His arms flail wildly, trying to catch on a branch, yet finding none. He doesn't need to worry about the wolfos anymore. The fall alone will kill him.

His plummet stops, too abruptly, as his stomach slams against a branch. All the air in his body rushes out of him, and for a moment he doesn't move, doesn't even consider righting himself. He'll thank the Goddesses for saving his life, just as soon as he can breathe again.

Eventually, once he has recovered enough, Link swings himself up so he's sitting on the branch. He wraps one arm around the tree's trunk. If there's another quake, he doesn't want to go through falling like that again. Then he assesses the damage. He's scraped and bruised, and his stomach is horribly sore, but nothing seems to be serious. Link peers down. He's a lot closer now to the wolfos than before, only a mere ten feet above them. They snap and snarl, trying to grab the hero by the boots and drag him down with them. Link folds his legs into a sitting position so they're well out of reach.

He's debating what to do next when another miracle occurs. The wolfos whimper, flattening their ears to their heads and slink away from the tree, before darting further into the forest until they completely vanish from sight.

Link drops down to the ground, tugging out the Master Sword from where it was embedded. What could have driven the wolfos away? Link looks around, but nothing seems to be amiss. He is alone. The Goddesses must have intervened; there's no other explanation. Perhaps they didn't despise him as much as he imagined.

Link plunges his sword before him as he kneels. He bows his head so it rests upon the blade's blue hilt. Softly, reverently, Link intones the traditional prayer of thanks.

Then comes familiar, tinkling laughter.

"Praying alone in the woods? What a dull thing to do! You've met with a terrible fate, haven't you?"

Link whirls around to see a red-headed man. He has a large pack whose heaviness causes him to stoop. Across his face is a large grin. He's squinting so hard, it looks as if his eyes are closed.

"Happy Mask Salesman? What are you doing here?"

It seems to Link that the salesman's smile twitches, but he isn't entirely sure. The salesman rubs his hands together.

"You know who I am?"

"Of course I do. I-I sold masks for you, remember?" The Happy Mask Salesman says nothing, and as comprehension dawns on Link, he adds, "Oh, right. You're probably a descendant of the man I know. It's a long story, but I'm actually the Hero of Time. From the past." Still, the other man says nothing. Link feels the stirring of unease in his still-aching stomach. "This probably sounds insane to you. But I'm not mad, I'm not. You don't think that I've gone mad, do you?"

"Of course not, of course not!" The Happy Mask Salesman snaps out of his shock, and saunters over to Link. The salesman pats him on the shoulder as a father would a son. "Even if your appearance has changed with time, how could I ever forget my number one happiness salesman?"

"So you are him!" Link's glee is then tapered with confusion. "But it's been many, many years since those times. How are you still…?"

"Alive?" The Happy Mask Salesman chuckles. He stops squinting so strongly, unnerving Link with his stare. His grip on Link's shoulder tightens. Link winces. "Time takes its toll differently on us all. My clock is simply very slow. Ponder it no further."

Link shrugs off the man's grip, and backs away. Alarms blare in his mind. Something is very wrong here. And it's not just the man's age. "But you're a Hylian, right? It doesn't make any sense, it doesn't…"

Link staggers. His head suddenly feels off, all wrong, pulsating, swimming. He touches a hand to his temple.

"I don't feel so well." He says faintly.

After throwing off his enormous bag, the Happy Mask Salesman guides Link to sit down upon the forest floor with him. The pressure in Link's head swells, and he moans softly, closing his eyes. How did he develop a headache so painful so quickly? He hears the other rooting around in his bag: the clatter of pots and pans, the softer clinking of the fine porcelain his masks are made from. Link's instincts are begging him to run away, to distance himself from the Happy Mask Salesman. Something is very wrong here. But the throbbing of his head effectively crowds out any such thoughts.

"A drink?" Link opens his eyes, and accepts what he is offered. He hadn't felt thirsty until he touched the cool canteen; once reminded of how little he has drunk within the day, he is immediately parched. Link tips his head back and drinks. He is soon spluttering, though, wiping at his mouth.

"This isn't water."

"I never said it was. It is a drink of my own creation, made from the finest of apples."

Link stares at the reddish brown liquid, sloshing it around in its container. The brief taste he had had was awful, but the Happy Mask Salesman does want to help, and his throat _is_ awfully dry…

"Just drink it. You will find your mind cleared."

Link swallows the liquid down. The Happy Mask Salesman is observing him intently, so Link restrains himself from grimacing at the nasty taste. Instead, he forces a smile as he polishes the canteen off. The man was telling the truth; the headache is fading away already. The canteen is plucked from his fingers and stowed away again, but Link doesn't mind; he lets his hands limply fall to the ground and tangle in the grass. A strange warmth burns in his belly. He had been asking the Happy Mask Salesman something. What was it again…?

"Why are you out here in the woods, so far from Castle Town? It's not safe here." Yes, that is what he had been thinking.

The Happy Mask Salesman ruffles the top of Link's head, setting his cap askew. Link doesn't think to correct it. "I thank you for your concern, my little happiness salesman, but it is quite unnecessary. I have been traveling these woods for some time now, and nothing has yet to get in my way. Those pesky skull kids might try, but are easily handled if one is aware of their weaknesses."

"Why are you here?"

"I have been searching for new masks to add to my collection. Ah! That reminds me!" The Happy Mask Salesman digs through his bag again.

"Aha! Here it is." The Happy Mask Salesman holds a mask aloft. He extends it towards Link. "This is the Fierce Deity's Mask. It is my gift to you. Take it, I insist."

Link accepts the mask with clumsy fingers and a slight bow of his head. The Happy Mask Salesman needn't have insisted; Link trusts him completely. He's a true friend. Even though Link has traveled into the future, the salesman still found him. He really cares about him. True friends. Link traces the red and blue markings idly. He can feel the drink spreading through his veins. Everything seems so sharp and yet so blurry at the same time. He knows not how it is possible, only that it is.

"It's a wonderful mask. One of your finest."

"Oh yes, the materials I crafted it from were simply divine."

Link hums in agreement. "Does it have any powers, or is it just a decoration?"

"Well, my dear happiness salesman, I suppose you'll just have to try it to find out." There's a curl of mischief in the man's voice.

Link lifts the mask to his face.

* * *

-TBC-

Did Link defy physics when he pole vaulted with his sword over the wolfos? Probably. Do I care? Not really.


	10. Chapter X

The Bleeding Effect

Chapter X

AN: It is helpful to know at least some general information about "A Link Between Worlds" before jumping into this chapter.

* * *

If he was human, Link could say to them "I can explain" or even "It's not what it looks like". However Link was no longer a man, but instead a beast. And the monster that emerged from the well still lived, its massive hands forming fists to squash him.

Link darted out of the way seconds before a fist came down hard on the drum. He would talk with his companions later; right now, he needed to finish the battle he began.

The hands that had once been such a threat were now hardly a challenge; as a wolf his speed tripled. He dodged and weaved around the cumbersome limbs with practiced ease, sprinting for the monster's eye once more. Now that he didn't have to worry about evading the darkness, he shouldn't have too much trouble. There was one downside to his wolf form, though, aside from the obvious fact that Sheik and Navi now knew he had one—he could smell _everything_. The rank of fetid decay and gore was amplified to an almost painful point. His nose felt like it would just drop right off, and he almost wished it would, to rid himself of the sickening stench.

Link didn't turn his head to look behind him, not once. He didn't want to see the expression on Sheik's face, but still, his mind turns on itself, slapping images into his mind. Sheik's expression creased with disgust, twisted with horror. He didn't want to see. He wouldn't look.

Link sprang up, landing in the squishy substance of the monster's eye. His claws clutched onto the folds of it for a better grip, but to his surprise, the membrane of the eye gave way under his claws with a _pop_.

Clear juices intermingled with blood slicked Link's legs, and he slipped from the monster's eye before he could even tear into it with his jaws. Nevertheless, it seemed that his claws did do some damage; the monster shrieked with pain, dragging the bulk of its body out of Link's range.

"Leave me alone!" The monster bellowed. "I want you to leave me alone!"

"Look out!"

One of the monster's hands was about to sweep Link off the drum (he didn't know what laid beyond, and he had no desire to find out) but, instead, it flopped ungainly to the drum with Sheik atop it. The Sheikah's dagger was buried up to the hilt in the monster's hand. Sheik pulled it out and plunged it back into another part of the hand, twisting the blade, stabbing again and again.

"I can handle this simply enough," Sheik ordered. "If you still understand Hylian tongue, do as I say. Go for its eye!"

A shadow fell over Sheik. Link tried to shout a warning, but all that came out was frantic barking.

"Do you not understand me?" Sheik yelled, right before the second hand dropped down, grabbing him. He winced as the hand squeezed tighter, trying to crush him.

"Jelly! Jelly!" Crowed the monster with triumph. "I'll squash you into jelly!"

Link ran behind the hand, claws scrambling for purchase on the drum as he pivoted around abruptly before launching himself at the back of the hand. He gripped onto it, then let himself slide downwards, nails renting apart the monster's flesh in neat lines.

The monster from the well howled at the sting, and unwillingly dropped Sheik to the floor.

Link guarded Sheik, growling lowly at the hands, warning them away. The monster's hands crept closer and then shrunk back into the gloom, wary of engaging with Link again.

The wolf's ears flicked back as he heard the scuffling sounds of Sheik standing once more. His constant stream of growls came to a halt when he felt Sheik place a hand on his back. Sheik pet his fur gently, if a bit awkwardly.

"Thank you, hero."

There was no disgust in Sheik's voice, no hatred. Only gratitude. Link was surprised, and a bit elated. His companion seemed to be taking Link's transformation in stride. Perhaps, when Link returned to his own time, he might consider showing Rusl and the resistance group his transformation. If someone as tightly wound as Sheik could accept him, then Link might not have to hide the truth from his other allies as well.

"We can fend off the hands all day, but it won't do us much good." Said Sheik. "We need to find its eye again."

"How?" Asked Navi. "We can hardly see several feet in front of us in this gloom, let alone track down the monster's body!"

It might have been difficult to see, but there were other, much more developed, senses at Link's disposal. He sniffed the air, narrowing down where the stench of rot was the thickest. Once found, he was off like a shot. The hands bumbled after him, but Link didn't spare them even a first glance; he knew that Sheik had his back. Sure enough, Link could hear the light _thunks _of needles embedding themselves in flesh, coupled with Navi's shouts of encouragement.

The monster seemed to know that it was found, but Link didn't give it a chance to escape. He was upon the red eye again, grip even firmer now that he knew to expect a slippery surface, ripping out chunks with his teeth.

The monster reared back, thrashing.

"No!" It cried. "I don't deserve to die! It was their fault! They were blind, not me! Kill them instead!"

The monster from the well beat out a fast pace on the drum, like a frantic heartbeat. It quickly slowed, until the hand stilled entirely.

"This wasn't…what I…wanted." The monster sunk to the drumhead. Link and his companions watched as it blackened, dissolving into a curl of smoke which drifted away into nothingness.

A human hand shot up from the side of the drum, fingers digging into the top of the head. Link yelped and nearly jumped from his skin.

To Link's surprise, Sheik all but flew over to the person trying to pull themselves up. He gave them a hand, and Link could tell it was a woman. But who?

"Lady Impa," Sheik checked her over. "Are you alright? Did the monster harm you?"

She waved his concerns away. "I am fine now, thanks to you, and the hero."

Her red eyes cut to Link. To his confusion, _she _wasn't confused by his appearance. She beckoned him, and Link padded over to them.

Impa waved her hand, and she and Link were encased in blue light in the shape of a gem. It was a soothing, clean energy. Link breathed deeply of the pure air that had eluded him for so long within the Shadow Temple. He felt himself beginning to shift into his human form. He stood on trembling back legs, wincing as his tail receded inch by inch.

Sheik's hand rested upon the barrier of light. He looked as if he was restraining himself from beating upon it. His eyes were fixed upon the other Sheikah.

"Lady Impa, wait, you can't leave already. There's so much more I still need to—"

"Sheik." Her stern voice had a hint of fondness in it. "There is nothing more that I can teach you. You must now learn from your experiences, from those around you, and from yourself."

Then a brilliant white light enveloped the crystal of energy, and Link shielded his eyes.

When he opened them again, drawing his hands from his face, he could see that the claws and fur were now entirely absent. He was human once more.

Link glanced around. He stood upon a blue, octagonal platform. It was studded with emblems he struggled to recognize. In the center, beneath his boots, was the emblem of the triforce. At least he recognized one.

"Are these…the medallions?"

"Yes, very good. I'm glad to see Sheik took the time to explain to you at least that much."

Atop the violet emblem appeared Impa. Link approached her.

"I think a bit more of an explanation would be welcome."

The Sheikah dipped her head in acknowledgment. Atop the rest of the medallions—save for the orange one—appeared others, of different races, sizes, ages. A gigging girl in green waved at him. Link waved back, a bit unsure.

"We are at your disposal, hero," The old Hylian rumbled, white moustache twitching as he spoke. "Ask all that you desire."

"Finally some answers," Link muttered, before straightening. "First, the obvious. Where are we right now?"

"The Chamber of Sages!" Trilled the Zora.

"Why am I in the past?"

The sages were silent, exchanging glances.

"Actually, we were hopin' you could tell us that, brother," Said the Goron.

"We know that you're still Farore's chosen hero," Piped up the girl. "But we also know that you're not _our_ hero."

The old man rubs his chin. "So you're a time traveler, you say? This was not foretold to us."

"The Goddesses have not yet chosen to reveal their designs to us. We must have faith in them." Impa's statements were met with a chorus of agreements from the other sages.

"There was a Great Fairy I encountered on my way to the Shadow Temple. She said that she was a servant of the God of Time, Roark."

"Roark?" The Zora's fins twitched as she considered Link's words. "I've never heard of him."

Link tugged off his gauntlet, and pointed to the patch of skin in the middle of the mark of the triforce, which formed an inverted triangle.

"The fairy said that he was the fourth triangle. That it was initially supposed to be a tetraforce."

"Blasphemy!" Harrumphed the elderly sage. "There are three Goddesses and that is all."

"But why would a Great Fairy lie?" Pointed out the Goron.

"They've never told me a lie," Jumped in the girl.

"She was not lying." Informed Impa. She folded her arms. "Roark is the fourth deity."

Link gaped. "You can't be serious. Why has there never been any other mention of him? Why did he not contribute a piece to the…tetraforce?"

Impa shook her head. "He has told me little. I know not much more than the fact that he truly exists, and is indeed the God of Time."

The girl snapped her fingers. "If he's the God of Time, then he must have been the one to send this Link back here!"

"But why? And where did this 'Roark' feller send our brother?"

"The whole idea of a tetraforce is utter nonsense, absolutely ridiculous," Said the old man.

"I don't think I'll believe anything until I see some proof." Said the Zora.

"So you don't know why I'm here? Or have any clue how I can get back to my time?" An edge of desperation worked its way into Link's voice.

His words echoed in the following silence. For all the wisdom of the sages, they had no answer to give him; they could only hazard guesses. The Sage of Shadow was the one who eventually broke the silence.

"Nothing is ever entirely preordained, Hero. It was foretold that a hero would appear to strike back against Ganondorf. That he will succeed or fail—that is up to you. You have done well in working towards completing the Hero of Time's mission so far. We suggest you continue onwards, freeing the last sage and obtaining the final medallion."

One by one, all the sages vanished from Link's view, until only Impa remained. She took his hand, flipping it over so his palm faced upwards. She placed the Shadow Medallion in it. His fingers curled around the cool metal.

"Your mind is ill at ease child, and not simply due to the quest that lies before you. What else disturbs your mind?"

Her red eyes called to his mind a different pair, glowing with hate and cruelty. His gaze cut away from hers.

"I just…" He shifted his weight from one foot to the other. "Was Dark Link…right about the Shadow Temple? About…me?"

"The Shadow Temple was initially a prison during one of the many great wars Hyrule was embroiled in. Many were tortured there."

Link swallowed hard. Sheik had been right. When it came down to it, the Hylians were every bit as barbarous as all the other races.

"The war eventually came to an end, but the presence of evil in those dungeon walls did not leave. Many who died returned as vengeful wraiths, and the heartlessness of the torturers invited in many dark demons and creatures. It was impossible to cleanse the dungeon. The Royal Family ordered my ancestors to seal it away forevermore, but the Sheikah leader of the time proposed an alternative solution. The dungeon was renamed the Shadow Temple, and repurposed as a holding place to stow away the darkest thoughts of Hylians, so that they would never be driven to commit atrocities of such magnitude again."

"So Dark Link truly is the embodiment of…" Link's throat closed. He couldn't ask. Because what if Dark Link truly was all the worst qualities within him? What if he was everything that he didn't want to admit?

"Dark Link is not your 'Shadow Temple', so to speak. It is a monster created by Ganondorf's own wicked magic. Though it is modeled after you, it shares no further similarities. It is not a reservoir for the evil within you. It is not you."

Link slumped with relief, expelling the nervous breath he had been holding back.

"So the things that it said…"

"Were not at all true. Its intention was to weaken your heart as well as your body, and it succeeded. If not for Sheik's intervention, you surely would have met your end."

Link was reminded of the way Sheik appeared on the ship as if from nowhere, wielding light arrows effortlessly.

"Is Sheik Zelda?" Link blurted.

Impa's eyes widened a fraction with surprise, but then her face crinkled with mirth. "That is something that you should ask him yourself."

"He truly cares for you, you know. He's been worried about you ever since we learned that you had gone to take on the monster from the well by yourself."

"I am aware. I raised him as my own. But he shall recover from my absence, in time."

Impa waved her hand once more, and a shaft of light shone upon Link.

"It is time for you to join your companions once more. Fare thee well, hero."

For the second time that day, Link's sight was swallowed by bright light. When he opened his eyes again, he was back in Kakariko's graveyard, at the entrance to the Shadow Temple.

Sheik was waiting for him, Navi perched upon his shoulder. Link must've been in the sages' chamber longer than he had surmised; even though it was only drizzling, the Sheikah's clothes were soaked to the skin.

"Let's return to the inn, where it's warm and dry," Said Link. "I'll tell you everything."

* * *

One roaring fire, two hearty meals, and three hot ciders later, Link concluded his tale. He did tell Sheik everything, as promised. He began with the onset of his journey to free Hyrule from the grip of the Twilight, detailed the still-unexplained switch in the Temple of Time, all the way up to the conversation he had with Impa mere hours ago. He had no explanation for why the dark energy of the monster from the well transformed him into his wolf form—he could only offer his own guess. Link suspected the monster's type of dark energy was similar enough to the twilight that it triggered the transformation. Link left nothing out, crafted not one lie. It was simultaneously one of the most difficult and one of the easier things he had ever done.

When at last he finished his tale, he took a long, deep drink of his cider, letting the warm tang of apple and cinnamon wash over his dry throat. Link dashed a hand over his mouth, wiping away the excess foam.

Navi, unsurprisingly, was the first to speak. Instead of her normal, bubbly tone, though, the fairy's voice was dampened with worry. "So you don't really know where our Link is? Or what he's doing?"

"I can only assume that he's in my time, working his way through my own quest." Said Link, regretful that he could offer little more to cheer the fairy.

"All alone, and in the future?" Fretted Navi. "How will he know what to eat, or how to defeat his foes?"

"My time isn't all that different from yours. And I'm sure Midna is taking great care of him," Link reminded her. A small smile tugged his face as he imagined his friend's frustration at dealing with a child. He couldn't wait to hear the stories she would tell when he got back. _If_ he got back. His smile dimmed.

As if reading his mind, Sheik finally spoke up. "So you have no idea how to facilitate the switch again."

Link regarded his companion. Sheik had been completely silent and totally expressionless during Link's entire story, never betraying what he was thinking. The man's voice now was kept flat and neutral. Did he believe Link? Was he mad at Link for not coming out with the truth right away? The hero had no idea.

"No, I don't. I can only continue my ancestor's quest, and hope the answer will be revealed to me eventually."

"That was the path I had chosen as well, after the hero's collapse. I knew something was wrong from the start. He had been understandably weary after our tangle with Morpha, but he was nowhere near exhausted enough to lose consciousness. My immediate assumption was that you were some sort of wicked imposter that, through magic, subdued the hero's mind and overtook his body. A servant of Ganondorf, perhaps, or some other base and corrupt being."

"What made you so suspicious of me?"

"Your story of memory loss fell through almost instantly. You are right handed, whereas the hero favors his left. You're a better swordsman by far, but a laughably worse musician."

Link couldn't argue with that.

"And yet, you were able to wield the Master Sword, the Blade of Evil's Bane. If you were truly possessed by an evil spirit or magic, how could you hold the blade so effortlessly? And your actions were very similar to our hero, such as when you rushed in to save the people of Kakariko." Sheik's red eyes flashed. "Of course, when you suddenly had eyes able to see the absolute truth, my suspicion of you tripled instantly."

Link winced. "You understand why I couldn't tell you everything before, right?"

"Entirely."

"So what happens now?"

"I will follow and aid you as I have before, and your ancestor before you." Sheik stood, chair scraping softly against the wood floor. "Tomorrow we make for Gerudo Valley, to locate the final sage. It is a long journey. We should rest now."

Link grabbed Sheik's wrist, not tightly, but with enough force to keep him at the table. "Wait. Now that you know who I am, I want to know who you are."

"You already know who I am."

"No one can wield light in the manner you did save the Princess. Are you Princess Zelda?"

To Link's astonishment, Sheik actually chuckled. He pulled his chair up again, and Link released his grip, confident that the Sheikah wouldn't attempt to leave.

"You have been honest with me. I suppose it is only fair that I return the favor. The answer is yes…and no."

Link raised an eyebrow. "Yes…and no? Are you some sort of jester now? Should I check your head for bumps?"

"What I am about to tell you must be kept in the strictest of confidence." Sheik's serious tone sobered Link immediately. "When you return to your own time, you cannot tell Midna, or any of your other friends anything that we discuss now."

Link nodded. "I understand."

Sheik performed a cursory sweep of the room. No one paid them excessive attention, all in the inn deep in their cups and own conversations. His eyes flicked back to meet Link's.

"This is not the only world in existence."

"Do you mean the Twilight Realm?"

"No. From what you've told me, it's still connected to this world, albeit in a separate plane. What I am talking about is a different world, disconnected from this one. I come from a land called Lorule. It is, in many ways, similar to Hyrule, but also quite different." Sheik lifted his arm, displaying the bracelet. "Artifacts such as this one enable travel between the two worlds. All Sheikah have one."

Link clumps the clues together in his mind. His eyes widen. "If you're from Lorule, and can wield the light arrows…"

"Yes. I am Princess Zelda's counterpart. I am Sheik, prince of Lorule."

"This is amazing!" Breathed Link. "No, this is insane. No, it's both."

"That is why my people are the perfect guards of Hyrule's Royal Family. Our enemies will never be able to figure out who we truly are, and where we have come from. It's impossible for them to exploit familial ties."

"But what about Lorule? Don't you need to govern your land?"

Sheik closed his eyes. "The land is no longer governable. My father and sister lingered behind to attempt to rebuild it, but I know they'll never manage to heal Lorule."

"Why not?"

Sheik pulled up the leather armor that covered his right hand, exposing skin as bare as anyone else's.

"Long ago, the royals of Lorule sought an end to the constant wars over our triforce. So they destroyed it."

"They destroyed the gift of the Goddesses?" Link was aghast. The thought of doing something that horrible had never crossed his mind.

Sheik flipped the leather down back into its proper place. "One a gift is given, is not the receiver permitted to do whatever he desires with it? They were trying to help. They didn't understand that the triforce was the linchpin of Lorule. Without it, the nation crumbles. Massive quakes rent the earth apart. Wickedness thrives, unchecked. Monsters spawn faster than they can be slain. Every day is a struggle to beat back our enemies from encroaching any further upon royal territory."

"We have to help them."

"One quest at a time, hero. Even if you went to help, it would be in vain. Lorule's time is at an end."

"Where am I? Why is my counterpart not helping?"

Suddenly the inn doors slammed open. Everyone's heads jerked to the door, some in alarm, others in irritation. Kafei sauntered in, his arm draped across a fetching woman with short red hair. They sat down at two of the barstools, and as Kafei called for mead with a flick of his hand, he nuzzled into the woman's neck. She tittered and blushed. A few men hollered in appreciation of the show, others mumbled with envy or disgust.

Sheik jerked a thumb at the man. "There he is."

"You can't be serious." Link couldn't tear his eyes from Kafei, from his theatrical movements and garish clothes. "He hardly looks like me!"

"Hardly acts like you, either." Sheik plainly said what Link had been thinking. "He's quite the salesman."

"This is insane."

"Any more insane than time travel?"

"I see your point."

"Come." Sheik stood once more. "Any further questions can wait until tomorrow. We must rest in preparation for the road ahead of us."

Sheik made his way to the steps that lead to their room. Link locked eyes with Kafei. The man winked back, before returning his attention once again to the woman, slopping alcohol on the bar counter as he used sweeping hand gestures. Shaking his head, Link got up and followed after Sheik.

* * *

-TBC-


End file.
